Summary Public Health: Social and Behavioral Sciences

Public Health and Social and Behavioral Sciences - Efforts to address: social and economic inequalities, need for what we call Social Justice. People are social beings with constant interactions. We influence our social systems and our social system influence us.The application of social and behavioral theories, models and methods to the design of interventions to prevent disease and reduce illness, increase adherence to healthy practices, and evaluate the impact of health programs. Social Justice - Implies a society provides fair treatment and a fair share of rewards of society Levels of Influence - Individual lifestyle factors: knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, personality, traits, sex, age, heredity. Social and Community Networks: Interactions with others. Interpersonal: family, friends, peers. Institutional/Organizational: rules and regulations of schools, work. General Socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental conditions: living and working conditions Social system Influence Behavior - Shaping norms: certain behaviors become the norm (everyone else does it attitude) Enforcing patterns of social control: rules and regulations create structure for society. Providing or not providing opportunities to engage in certain behaviors: access to a community pool may encourage people to learn to swim there by preventing drownings. Reducing or producing stress for which certain behaviors may be an defective coping strategy Influences - Socioeconomic Status: the definiton of "rank" include: family income, education level or parents' educational level, professional status or parent's professional status. Education is also strongly correlated to better health. Higher education=less exposure to disease and behaviors that cause disease. Culture: helps people make judgements about the world and decisions about behavior, defines what is "good" and what is "bad" Culture directly affects our daily habits of life: food choices, food preparation and preservation Determinants - Last defined as: "Any factor, whether event, characteristic, or other definable entity, that bring about change in a health condition or other defined characteristic" Could include: physical, social, economic, political, biological constitution, and behavior of individuals and populations What is the single biggest predictor of health? - Where you live