Week 1
Health- Complete physical, mental, and social well being. Well being goes beyond the absence
of disease, elongation of life. Public health tries to be as extensive as possible when trying to
define health
Social justice and health justice lens of health- Looks at equity among people and targeting
unjust systems e.g. equity in healthcare access.
Environmental justice is also something that can be considered when defining health. This
because health can also mean having a safe environment, having access to disability friendly
spaces
In a social media space, health can also mean claiming your identity without fear of violence.
Using your TV and social media without encountering violence etc.
Having access to contraception
This is just to say that health is a very extensive definition and looks different among different
people
Social conditions- A position in society based on income, occupation, education, neighborhood
Health Behavior- The activities that have an impact on our health like diet, smoking, exercise
etc.
Health Justice- Ensuring resources are shared fairly. Addressing health disparities and inequity.
Inclusive healthcare practices and environments. Addressing needs of marginalized
communities
Autonomy- providing access to comprehensive information such that everyone is able to make
informed decisions
Mission of BSHES- Training leaders of tomorrow on how changes to behaviour and social
condition can influence health
Opioids are the driving cause of death in drug overdose
½ the deaths in the US can be addressed by stopping certain preventable behaviours and
exposures. It is important to prioritize better dieting, exercise, and ceasing tobacco use.
Health promotion- Enabling people to increase control of their health and improve their health
Types of Health Behavior
- Preventative behaviours: Behaviours to prevent disease
- Illness Behaviours: Behaviours that help resolve or manage illness
- Sick role behavior: Ways of living with a disease
We must understand that behaviours are not always choices. There are social conditions,
culture, polices, environmental factors, etc that can make a person adopt a specific behavior
Paradigm Change: If we want to make a change, we must come to a consensus on what needs
to change. We then reach a turning point, Integrating social change, culture change, power
redistribution etc.
Social Ecological Model/Framework:
- Important concept. Provides a comprehensive way at looking at health considering that
health has a physical, mental, and social aspects.
- It also states that health outcomes are influenced by many interactions at various levels:
individual, interpersonal, community, public policy, globalization etc.
- Numerous social and environmental factors should be considered
,Embodiment (‘the outside affects the inside’): Our bodies are biological systems that are
sculpted/shaped by our social and cultural experiences. Our bodies are not passive recepients.
Our internal systems change based on what we experiences e.g. how stress from the pandemic
or economic hardship manifested in psychological issues or cardiovascular compromise
Weathering- Longterm effects of violence and trauma of BIPOC communities. The chronic
stress can cause adverse health outcomes
Periodization in Public Health (History of public health accounting for the public health eras)
- Sanitarian (1830s-1910s): illness, filth, class, and disorder are linked. That is to say
illness was linked to poor sanitary condition, low class, and poor environments
- “New” public health (1910s-1950s): Focused on health promotion and encouraging
actions to change social environmental and other conditions
- Risk factor approach (1960s-) - Addressing factors underlying chronic disease
- Social determinants of health (2000s-) Looking at the various conditions in which people
live their life. Conditions where they grow, work etc
These stages have coincided with continued reduction in the frequency of health issues like
tuberculosis and smoking cessation
The current public health focuses on battling systemic oppressions, systems, and structural
determinants of health. Public health should reclaim a place in social reform
Public Health in action through:
Week 2
Social Ecological Approaches
Social Ecological model has 4 aspects: Individual, Relationship, Community, and Society and
how these aspects interact
Social determinants of health (SDOH) are non-medical factors that impact health
outcomes.They are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age.
, Frieden framework- Public Health interventions are most
impactful when implemented at multiple levels from
individual to broader systems. Interventions are meant to
be made at all portions of the health impact pyramid
Change of context e.g fluoridation of water
Long lasting protective measures e.g immunization
There are various frameworks. They always feature levels,
some include the concept of embodiment
Environmental Context is critical in understanding
determinants of health behaviour
Glass & Mcatee- Risk factors are variables that are
statistically associated with worth health outcomes
Risk regulators- is a class for variables that capture
aspects of social structure that influence individual action.
Kind of like risk factors but at the societal level
Pubic Health calls for people to encourage community led research and projects
Intrapersonal Models
Health Belief Model(most commonly used method for health promotion): Personal belief
influences health behavior, developed in the 50s for TB
Key Constructs:
a. Perceived susceptibility: a person must believe they have of change of getting disease
before changing health behavior: e.g finding out about breast cancer and deciding to get
mammogram
b. Perceived Severity: belief about the physical or social consequences of contracting or
not treating a condition
c. Perceived Benefit: beliefs about the positive effects or advantages of adopting a health
behavior
d. Perceived Obstacles: Barriers resulting from the health outcome e.g financial cost, pain
etc
e. Cues to Action: Internal or external factors that cause a health behavior e.g a doctor’s
recommendation
f. Self efficacy: Belief that the person are capable of properly completing the health
behavior
Limitations of health belief model: Not taking into account habitual behaviors, Economic factors,
behaviors for Social acceptability. It assumes that everyone has access to equitable amounts of
information.
Transtheoretical Model (Goal is to move people through all the stages until it reaches the ideal
state)
a. Precontemplation (not ready to make change)
b. Contemplation- Getting ready to change
Health- Complete physical, mental, and social well being. Well being goes beyond the absence
of disease, elongation of life. Public health tries to be as extensive as possible when trying to
define health
Social justice and health justice lens of health- Looks at equity among people and targeting
unjust systems e.g. equity in healthcare access.
Environmental justice is also something that can be considered when defining health. This
because health can also mean having a safe environment, having access to disability friendly
spaces
In a social media space, health can also mean claiming your identity without fear of violence.
Using your TV and social media without encountering violence etc.
Having access to contraception
This is just to say that health is a very extensive definition and looks different among different
people
Social conditions- A position in society based on income, occupation, education, neighborhood
Health Behavior- The activities that have an impact on our health like diet, smoking, exercise
etc.
Health Justice- Ensuring resources are shared fairly. Addressing health disparities and inequity.
Inclusive healthcare practices and environments. Addressing needs of marginalized
communities
Autonomy- providing access to comprehensive information such that everyone is able to make
informed decisions
Mission of BSHES- Training leaders of tomorrow on how changes to behaviour and social
condition can influence health
Opioids are the driving cause of death in drug overdose
½ the deaths in the US can be addressed by stopping certain preventable behaviours and
exposures. It is important to prioritize better dieting, exercise, and ceasing tobacco use.
Health promotion- Enabling people to increase control of their health and improve their health
Types of Health Behavior
- Preventative behaviours: Behaviours to prevent disease
- Illness Behaviours: Behaviours that help resolve or manage illness
- Sick role behavior: Ways of living with a disease
We must understand that behaviours are not always choices. There are social conditions,
culture, polices, environmental factors, etc that can make a person adopt a specific behavior
Paradigm Change: If we want to make a change, we must come to a consensus on what needs
to change. We then reach a turning point, Integrating social change, culture change, power
redistribution etc.
Social Ecological Model/Framework:
- Important concept. Provides a comprehensive way at looking at health considering that
health has a physical, mental, and social aspects.
- It also states that health outcomes are influenced by many interactions at various levels:
individual, interpersonal, community, public policy, globalization etc.
- Numerous social and environmental factors should be considered
,Embodiment (‘the outside affects the inside’): Our bodies are biological systems that are
sculpted/shaped by our social and cultural experiences. Our bodies are not passive recepients.
Our internal systems change based on what we experiences e.g. how stress from the pandemic
or economic hardship manifested in psychological issues or cardiovascular compromise
Weathering- Longterm effects of violence and trauma of BIPOC communities. The chronic
stress can cause adverse health outcomes
Periodization in Public Health (History of public health accounting for the public health eras)
- Sanitarian (1830s-1910s): illness, filth, class, and disorder are linked. That is to say
illness was linked to poor sanitary condition, low class, and poor environments
- “New” public health (1910s-1950s): Focused on health promotion and encouraging
actions to change social environmental and other conditions
- Risk factor approach (1960s-) - Addressing factors underlying chronic disease
- Social determinants of health (2000s-) Looking at the various conditions in which people
live their life. Conditions where they grow, work etc
These stages have coincided with continued reduction in the frequency of health issues like
tuberculosis and smoking cessation
The current public health focuses on battling systemic oppressions, systems, and structural
determinants of health. Public health should reclaim a place in social reform
Public Health in action through:
Week 2
Social Ecological Approaches
Social Ecological model has 4 aspects: Individual, Relationship, Community, and Society and
how these aspects interact
Social determinants of health (SDOH) are non-medical factors that impact health
outcomes.They are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age.
, Frieden framework- Public Health interventions are most
impactful when implemented at multiple levels from
individual to broader systems. Interventions are meant to
be made at all portions of the health impact pyramid
Change of context e.g fluoridation of water
Long lasting protective measures e.g immunization
There are various frameworks. They always feature levels,
some include the concept of embodiment
Environmental Context is critical in understanding
determinants of health behaviour
Glass & Mcatee- Risk factors are variables that are
statistically associated with worth health outcomes
Risk regulators- is a class for variables that capture
aspects of social structure that influence individual action.
Kind of like risk factors but at the societal level
Pubic Health calls for people to encourage community led research and projects
Intrapersonal Models
Health Belief Model(most commonly used method for health promotion): Personal belief
influences health behavior, developed in the 50s for TB
Key Constructs:
a. Perceived susceptibility: a person must believe they have of change of getting disease
before changing health behavior: e.g finding out about breast cancer and deciding to get
mammogram
b. Perceived Severity: belief about the physical or social consequences of contracting or
not treating a condition
c. Perceived Benefit: beliefs about the positive effects or advantages of adopting a health
behavior
d. Perceived Obstacles: Barriers resulting from the health outcome e.g financial cost, pain
etc
e. Cues to Action: Internal or external factors that cause a health behavior e.g a doctor’s
recommendation
f. Self efficacy: Belief that the person are capable of properly completing the health
behavior
Limitations of health belief model: Not taking into account habitual behaviors, Economic factors,
behaviors for Social acceptability. It assumes that everyone has access to equitable amounts of
information.
Transtheoretical Model (Goal is to move people through all the stages until it reaches the ideal
state)
a. Precontemplation (not ready to make change)
b. Contemplation- Getting ready to change
