No description available.

The purpose of this study is to describe findings of the 2006 Aboriginal Peoples Survey that was conducted by Statistics Canada. They collected data on the living conditions and lifestyles of Aboriginal peoples living off-reserve in Canada. The thesis describes diabetes, co-morbidities, and social determinants of health that affect this population through the lens of intersectionality and Dr. Nancy Krieger's Eco-Social theory. / Graduate / 0766 / 0573

No description available.

Social determinants have impacted disease states. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of social determinants on the incidence of tuberculosis over a 20-year period for the state of New Jersey to determine interventions that can be developed for the state. The epidemiological triad (host-agent-environment) served as the theoretical foundation for this study. A quantitative series of cross sectional analyses were performed using secondary data from a New Jersey Department of Health database on population tuberculosis incidence for the state. Categorical data analyses were used to describe the data. According to study results, certain social determinants; such as gender, substance abuse, residence, and place of birth; and the age of the patient had an impact on tuberculosis incidence trend at the state level. The social change implications for this project could be that identifying the factors that impact tuberculosis incidence may reduce and lead to more targeted interventions, which in turn, would help to reduce the different kind of burdens; such as financial, social, and emotional; associated with this disease on the community where it is occurring.

This thesis evaluates the utility of �social capital� for public health in four dimensions (communication, explanation, practice and measurement) and at two levels (macro and micro), using interviews with public health workers and a theoretical analysis of social capital. It concludes that the concept is potentially useful for public health but that there are limitations to its utility, arising from the presence of two competing discourses or world views identified in the social capital literature: the rational choice discourse and the political economy discourse. This thesis argues that although social capital is widely perceived to have rhetorical leverage in macro-level policy debates, its contested meaning draws into question the value of any consensus built on the glossing over of different world views. The concept has no value for communication at the micro level. The rational choice theory of social capital appears useful for explaining the social determinants of health although it does not adequately account for the power structures which shape and constrain access to social capital, and it undervalues many aspects of social relationships. The political economy approach is more useful in these respects but is far more complex and difficult to quantify. It is unclear whether either of these theories adds much value to the existing literature which social capital tends to eclipse. The concept has limited value for public health practice, as the dual world views embedded in it can be used to support widely varying policy directions. It is also limited by its inability to describe the dynamics of change or to identify levers for initiating change. The meaningfulness of social capital indicators is compromised by the reductionism of the rational choice paradigm. The political economy discourse renders the development of quantitative indicators far more problematic but may be useful for informing qualitative research.

ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION: Multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) poses a great threat to the eradication of TB. In the US, MDR-TB is faced with inadequate diagnostic tools and long and expensive treatment regimens. Therefore, preventing the disease is the key to saving lives and resources. Social and behavioral variables play a big part in this prevention. It is important to determine the social factors that may lead to MDR-TB in order to set up prevention programs and more efficient treatment regimens. AIM: This study was conducted to ascertain the social determinants of MDR-TB in the US between the years of 2005 and 2009 to better equip public health officials to deal with this growing threat. METHODS: This study used the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Online Tuberculosis Information System (OTIS) database to find associations between certain social variables and MDR-TB. The variables that were tested were whether or not the individual had lived in a correctional facility for the past year; HIV status; homelessness; whether or not the individual had an occupation; and whether the individual was foreign-born or US-born. An unadjusted odds ratio (OR) was calculated to find this association. The variables were then stratified with age; sex; race; age and race; age and sex; and age, sex, and race to see whether or not the strata were confounders. RESULTS: The variables of having lived in a correctional facility and homelessness were found to be associated with MDR-TB. However, all of the strata were found to be confounders for this relationship. Having HIV and being US-born were not found to be associated with MDR-TB. All of the strata for HIV were found to be confounders. But for place of birth, stratifying by age, sex, and both age and sex were not confounders. The rest of the strata were. The OR for occupation versus MDR-TB was almost at 1, meaning that those with a job and those without a job had almost equal odds of having MDR-TB. Effect modification was present for the strata in all variables, meaning that the risk of having MDR-TB varied with each different age, sex, and racial group. DISCUSSION: Results from this study showed which variables were more likely to be associated with MDR-TB in the US between the years of 2005 and 2009. However, when compared to the literature that exists, the results showed that more research needs to be done to properly ascertain this relationship. Using this study, public health officials can identify which populations to focus prevention efforts on.

Upstream social determinants of health (SDH) have become widely acknowledged as lying at the root of poor health outcomes in Canada and globally. Conditions of social disadvantage restrict access to both social and physical resources, limiting the opportunity to actively pursue a healthy lifestyle. The Commission on the Social Determinants of Health maintains that educating the public about the SDH is a key step towards population health equity. Educating adolescents may be the most efficient and effective route of SDH knowledge dissemination, as youth are in a stage of peak learning, and are also easily reached through health education curriculum delivered in secondary school. However, health curriculum in Ontario is lacking in SDH content, placing a much greater emphasis on individual, lifestyle behaviors, such as diet, physical activity, and sax sex practices. Identifying a gap in SDH knowledge within this population, and evaluating the benefits of SDH education, is required to advocate for health curriculum revision to include SDH material. This project is designed as both a research study and SDH educational intervention. Concept mapping exercises were used to determine students’ knowledge of the determinants of health and the SDH. The impact of short term SDH education on student retention of SDH material was also evaluated. Student concept maps indicated that students attributed their health primarily to physical determinants versus social determinants; 44% of maps contained no SDH content. Statistical analyses prior to delivering the SDH lessons indicated that students’ SDH knowledge varied by their relative socioeconomic status (SES). Post-lesson analyses indicated however that student SDH knowledge increased significantly, and final levels of SDH knowledge following the SDH lessons was unaffected by socio-demographic variables. Findings suggest that 1) there is an SDH knowledge gap in the adolescent population, 2) an inequity in adolescent SDH knowledge exists across socio-economic factors, and 3) that SDH education can potentially eliminate the inequity in SDH knowledge. Current Ontario health curriculum requires revision to include SDH material. Designing curricula to have an optimal influence on both student learning and adolescent health requires greater communication and collaboration from both educational institutions and health agencies in Canada / Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2012-09-27 08:49:09.739

The susceptibility of individuals to illness and disease is greatly influenced by context specific social determinants of health (SDH), yet there is a dearth of literature pertaining to SDH among refugees, particularly those residing in urban areas. The purpose of this study was to identify and generate empirical evidence on SDH among female refugees in Malaysia. It focused specifically on Rohingya refugees, a stateless and persecuted Muslim minority from Myanmar. Intersectionality formed the theoretical foundation of the study, which utilized a qualitative research design and employed an exploratory, applied research approach. Document review provided background and contextual information for primary data, which were collected using semi-structured interviews and analysed using thematic analysis. The study was undertaken in affiliation with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and had two primary outputs: it provided UNHCR with information and recommendations to inform context-specific program and policy development, and it generated rich empirical findings that contribute to the nascent evidence base on SDH in the context of forced migration. Results indicate that key factors affecting the health and wellbeing of Rohingya women include: their journey from Myanmar to Malaysia, income, employment, food security, transportation, the physical environment, UNHCR, security issues, education, religion, healthcare, and social capital/the social safety net. These interacted, overlapped and compounded each other, forming a ‘web of interrelated factors’ that affected participants’ health. Findings provide insight into the instrumental role of the sociopolitical context in structuring the lives of urban refugee women, and emphasize the importance of extending current discourse beyond refugee women’s needs and vulnerabilities to consider their resilience and agency in situations of significant hardship. / Graduate / 0573

The susceptibility of individuals to illness and disease is greatly influenced by context specific social determinants of health (SDH), yet there is a dearth of literature pertaining to SDH among refugees, particularly those residing in urban areas. The purpose of this study was to identify and generate empirical evidence on SDH among female refugees in Malaysia. It focused specifically on Rohingya refugees, a stateless and persecuted Muslim minority from Myanmar. Intersectionality formed the theoretical foundation of the study, which utilized a qualitative research design and employed an exploratory, applied research approach. Document review provided background and contextual information for primary data, which were collected using semi-structured interviews and analysed using thematic analysis. The study was undertaken in affiliation with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and had two primary outputs: it provided UNHCR with information and recommendations to inform context-specific program and policy development, and it generated rich empirical findings that contribute to the nascent evidence base on SDH in the context of forced migration. Results indicate that key factors affecting the health and wellbeing of Rohingya women include: their journey from Myanmar to Malaysia, income, employment, food security, transportation, the physical environment, UNHCR, security issues, education, religion, healthcare, and social capital/the social safety net. These interacted, overlapped and compounded each other, forming a ‘web of interrelated factors’ that affected participants’ health. Findings provide insight into the instrumental role of the sociopolitical context in structuring the lives of urban refugee women, and emphasize the importance of extending current discourse beyond refugee women’s needs and vulnerabilities to consider their resilience and agency in situations of significant hardship. / Graduate / 2015-03-28 / 0573

Using Burris et al.’s model of law as a social determinant of health, this thesis postulates that the law and its application contribute to abortion-related morbidity and mortality among those women who qualify for a legal and safe abortion according to the justifications stipulated in the Criminal Code. This thesis proposes a circular model in order to show how the application of the law, through courts rulings, contributes to unsafe abortion. On the one hand, Argentine law acts as a pathway along which inequity in socioeconomic status exposes certain women to pathogenic practices, such as self-induced abortions. On the other hand, the law acts as a shaper of socioeconomic status as it perpetuates gender stereotypes, constructing a normative world where sex-role stereotypes are naturalized, and having an impact in women’s lack of access to legal and safe abortions.