Case Study on Social Determinants of Health

Running Head: CASE STUDY
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Case study
student
3/30/2019

CASE STUDY
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Case study
There are 4 to 6 people are mentioned in the case study who are belongs to a single family. Most
of them suffered with at least one type of problem. Carla as the main focus of this study was a
54 years old woman named Carla. She was married in teenage stage and had children be the time
she was 21 years old. Her husband was employed in mine and helped Carla financially. He lost
his job when the mine closed. He had a head injury and due to financial issues did not discuss in
with his family, and get no treatment. Afterwards the symptoms like forgetfulness, and
depression were raised. Even after divorce Carla takes care of John in the adverse situation. They
lived in small coastal mining town. Her son Robbie completed grade 12 and her daughter Annie
was living in a tiny one room with her boyfriend Josh. Her boyfriend was employed and going to
schools for education in evening. They both were facing the same problems faced by her mother.
The unemployment was also the main issue for the family. Annie was pregnant and both Annie
and Josh were experiencing financial issues, and they were worried about how they will manage
the rent when the baby will arrive. The Australia bureau Statistics (2017) reported that the
average people per household in Australia are 2.6 and median weekly household income is
$1,438. Educational institutes were appeared by 30.8 per cent of individuals in Australia. People
aged 15 and above, nearly 15.7 per cent revealed that they have completed 12 as their highest
student if education. It was also reported that nearly 11,471,296 individuals are in labour force in
Australia. Among all of them nearly 56.7 per cent were worked full time and only 30.4 per cent
worked part time.
According to world health organisation the social determinants of health are the situations or
conditions in which the individuals born grow, live, and age, and daily life activities (World
Health Organisation, 2019). In the case study provided there different social determinants for

CASE STUDY
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health such as socioeconomic status, lack of education, age, parental responsibilities,
detachment form friends, and unemployment. Carla’s aunt was not educated therefore she
suffered in education. She married to John in early age due to lack of awareness and education.
After the divorce Carla was the single-parent which was also the social determinants as it pouts
more responsibilities and more stress on her. John has employment related issues and even after
having head injury he was not able get treatment for it due to financial issues and developed
depression related symptoms. In case of Carla and John socioeconomic status, lack of education,
age, detachment was the main social determinant s of health. There were not sufficient job
opportunities, which results in depression. Carla wanted to live with her daughter but she was not
able to afford the cost of visit to the city. And she starts saving money by eating only toast in the
evening, so that she can visit to her daughter, but she was still unable to visit frequently. Not
eating healthy food was a clear indication that she might develop other health issues. Annie and
her boyfriends in the other also faced the similar type of issues. Age, economic status, lack of
education is also the main social determinants of health issues (Braveman, Egerter, and
Williams, 2011). Annie was pregnant and had no scope of a child in such age and financial
conditions. Therefore both might be feeling the depression and stress for the child. Detachment
from the family was affecting both Annie and Carla, as Annie needs someone to take care of her
as she developed diabetes related issue but Carla was unable to visit her daily due to financial
issues. Therefore there is a risk of developing other health condition for Annie. Josh was also
worried a might be feeling depression same as John due to financial issues. Annie feel tired due
to her physical health and unable to do job or perform daily life works this might worsening the
situation more.in case of Annie and Josh financial issues were forcing Josh to leaving her
schooling for doing additional work as they had to make more money for their child.