reflection
From the beginning of the topic of the social determinants of health I knew I was going to learn something new as even the name of the topic was unfamiliar to me. I was intrigued to know what the topic would be covering and how we would unpack certain social determinants. At this stage I understood health to be simply feeling happy and feeling good about yourself. I did know that there could be several reasons for why someone was unhealthy or unhappy, however, I didn’t realise these issues could go as deep and upstream as many of them do.
I had never heard of upstream, downstream or midstream determinants and struggled to understand the concept of each one. However, the ‘babies in the river’ explanation was extremely useful in determining the difference between each. Once I was able to understand these determinants I found it much easier to follow and understand the ideas presented throughout the rest of the topic. It gave a lot more depth to researching health issues and made it easier to find possible solutions.
Being a part of this topic also well informed me about health inequality and inequity and the difference between the two. What I really found meaningful to my learning was the in class activity looking at the picture of the three people trying to watch a sporting match behind a fence. This clearly described to me the difference between inequality, inequity and social justice. Inequality means it is not the same for everyone and inequity means it is not fair for everyone. In regards to this example, equality is shown by the first picture where each person has one box to stand on. This is equal but not necessarily equitable or fair. The second picture however, shows and example of social justice, where it is equitable because they can all see over the fence.
Health inequality and inequity are both displayed in several areas of health. Different races, cultures and nationalities receive unequal health benefits. An example of this is the fact that the majority of Indigenous Australians live in regional and metropolitan areas but do not receive or have access to the same health benefits as Non-Indigenous Australian people. Their average life expectancy is 10 years less that Non-Indigenous Australians. This clearly is unequal.
At the beginning of this topic, I responded to the statement “Obesity is a result of poor lifestyle choices” by stating that it is not fair to say to someone that it is their fault they are obese or should have eaten better foods to. There are many other factors that can play a part. I still completely agree with what I originally thought. However, I am now able to go into more detail and expand on the possible reasons why obesity occurs by using the downstream and upstream determinants. I was always aware that there were possible causes of causes but never had the knowledge I do now, to be able to thoroughly unpack these causes and find solutions for specific health problems.
Overall I have taken away a lot of new information and helpful resources from this topic and have developed interest in continuing to learn more about social determinants and the way they can affect people individually.
I had never heard of upstream, downstream or midstream determinants and struggled to understand the concept of each one. However, the ‘babies in the river’ explanation was extremely useful in determining the difference between each. Once I was able to understand these determinants I found it much easier to follow and understand the ideas presented throughout the rest of the topic. It gave a lot more depth to researching health issues and made it easier to find possible solutions.
Being a part of this topic also well informed me about health inequality and inequity and the difference between the two. What I really found meaningful to my learning was the in class activity looking at the picture of the three people trying to watch a sporting match behind a fence. This clearly described to me the difference between inequality, inequity and social justice. Inequality means it is not the same for everyone and inequity means it is not fair for everyone. In regards to this example, equality is shown by the first picture where each person has one box to stand on. This is equal but not necessarily equitable or fair. The second picture however, shows and example of social justice, where it is equitable because they can all see over the fence.
Health inequality and inequity are both displayed in several areas of health. Different races, cultures and nationalities receive unequal health benefits. An example of this is the fact that the majority of Indigenous Australians live in regional and metropolitan areas but do not receive or have access to the same health benefits as Non-Indigenous Australian people. Their average life expectancy is 10 years less that Non-Indigenous Australians. This clearly is unequal.
At the beginning of this topic, I responded to the statement “Obesity is a result of poor lifestyle choices” by stating that it is not fair to say to someone that it is their fault they are obese or should have eaten better foods to. There are many other factors that can play a part. I still completely agree with what I originally thought. However, I am now able to go into more detail and expand on the possible reasons why obesity occurs by using the downstream and upstream determinants. I was always aware that there were possible causes of causes but never had the knowledge I do now, to be able to thoroughly unpack these causes and find solutions for specific health problems.
Overall I have taken away a lot of new information and helpful resources from this topic and have developed interest in continuing to learn more about social determinants and the way they can affect people individually.