Re-evaluating Social Determinants of Health Tools: Addressing Limitations and Proposing a New Measure for Improved Assessment
Date of Award
5-1-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Department
Psychology
First Reader
Dr. Jeanette Braswell
Second Reader
Dr. Sandra Gilliland
Third Reader
Dr. Elizabeth Green
Abstract
The idea that social factors have an impact on health and wellbeing is relatively new, with the earliest research beginning in the early 19th century. The onset of the Industrial Revolution led to a significant uptick of destitution and disease, which prompted scientists to consider elements other than biology for these afflictions. Though the social factors that influence health have been researched for several centuries, the term "social determinants of health" was not introduced until the 1990s by the World Health Organization (WHO). According to the Healthy People 2030 initiative, social determinants of health are described as " ... the conditions in the environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks." In other words, they are the non-medical, non-biological components of life that are largely outside our realm of direct control and impact our physical, mental, and emotional well-being for better or for worse.
Today, it is widely accepted that the study of social determinants of health ( which will henceforth be referred to as SDOH) leads to a more holistic understanding of health and increased equity of health outcomes. However, there are plenty of barriers to reaping the benefits that understanding SDOH offers. Recent cuts in government spending to programs such as SNAP, Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security will endanger children, the elderly, and disabled individuals who rely on these crucial services to reduce the disparities in health that they face. A reduction in federal grants from the National Institute on Disability, Rehabilitation Research, and the National Institutes of Health is depleting the resources of nonprofits that work to protect the rights of, provide support for, and create research projects on behalf of disadvantaged groups. These new governmental developments are compounded by an alarming lack of empathy from the American public for those who suffer in our society.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Wilson, Kendall, "Re-evaluating Social Determinants of Health Tools: Addressing Limitations and Proposing a New Measure for Improved Assessment" (2025). Honors Theses. 1004.
https://scholarlycommons.obu.edu/honors_theses/1004
