Socio-Demographic Health Determinants: Case Study Analysis Report

This report analyzes the socio-demographic characteristics and health determinants of individuals in a case study involving a mining town community. It examines factors such as age, education, income, and physical environment, and their impact on health outcomes. The analysis reveals how low education levels, poverty, and poor living conditions contribute to stress, poor health, and limited access to healthcare. The report also explores the impact of social determinants on individuals, discussing the lack of adequate support networks, and the challenges faced by the community due to the closure of the mine. Furthermore, the report proposes strategies to address poverty as a key social health determinant, including job creation, improved education, and accessible healthcare facilities. It concludes by exploring the role of health professionals in addressing these social determinants through awareness campaigns, reduced healthcare costs, and advocacy for equitable healthcare laws. The study references multiple academic sources to support its findings.

SOCIAL DEMOGRAPHIC HEALTH DETERMINANTS.
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• Socio-demographic characteristics
Social-demographic attributes of society refer to attributes like gender, age, education
level, income, ethnicity, location, occupation, and experience at work (Thornton et
al., .2016). The age attribute of the case study shows that Carla is now 54 years old. She
got married at a very young age hence starting parental responsibilities at a very tender
age. Carla's daughter, Annie, also got married at a very tender age due to the financial
struggles of her parents. She is already pregnant at a very young age.
The education attribute, as from the case study, indicates that Carla had struggles in
schooling; her aunt, who was living with her after her parents' death, was illiterate. Carla

dropped out of School and got married. Carla's husband, John, seems to be also not very
educated because initially he was doing casual jobs before getting an accident at the
mine. Carla's son, Robbie, completed Grade 12, but the case study says that he did not do
well in School. Annie dropped out of School, and her boyfriend, Josh, is also in the
process of dropping out of School.
The income level as per the case study indicates that Carla's aunt was illiterate and
therefore had difficulties finding a good job. We can also suggest that she did casual jobs
and consequently had very little income. John has been working at the mine as an
informal but got very little pay. Unfortunately, the mine is closed and John becomes
employed hence no income. Carla does casual jobs like working at the grocery and the
retail shops. She gets some income, but the pay is not sufficient to sustain her whole
family. Many people in the community seem to be working around the mine either by
doing the work at the mine itself or doing business with the people working at the mine.
This shows that their income level is also low (MacDorma, Declecq & Thoma 2017).
Unfortunately, the mine is closed, the people in the community even lose their jobs, and
therefore, many do not get any income. Josh, Annie's boyfriend, is working and, at the same
time, going to School. The income level seems to be very low because the case study shows that
he is struggling and therefore planning to drop out of School.
The case study indicates that the people in the community have been living around the mine
before being closed. Carla was born in the mining town. This shows that her parents were also
living in this place before dying. Carla's aunt also lived in the mining town. John, Carla's

husband, also lived around the mine because he has been working at the mine before its closure.
Carla's kids are also said to have grown in the mining town before moving to the city.
• Social determinants of health and their impact on individuals.
Health social determinants comprise factors like education, socio-economic situation,
physical environment, support networks, healthcare access, and employment (Garg et al.2016).
People's health is always a result of the context of their lives. Therefore, the idea of criticizing
other people for facing poor health or praising them for having sound health is not appropriate.
Many people are not able to take charge of their health determinant factors. The determinants are
the things that enable one to have sound health or poor health. Therefore, we are going to
examine the health determinants factors from our case study.
The social status and the income level of the people from the case study deficient. We are
told that Carla's aunt was illiterate; therefore, she could only do casual jobs; this indicates that
she could not afford good income from her little earnings. Carla does casual jobs; the income she
gets is not even able to give her the three meals of the day, and therefore, she is not able to get
good health in case any illness arises. John, Carla's husband, has been working at the mine;
eventually the mine is closed, and he is now rendered jobless; therefore, there is no income for
him. The case study says that Carla is supporting John. Annie has dropped out of School, she has
no job, and therefore she has no source of income. She is married to Josh who is also struggling
to make ends meet. This tells us that they cannot afford proper health because of their little
income.
The education level of the people as per the case study is very low. Carla's aunt is said to be
illiterate, therefore she cannot access good health as per her condition. Carla dropped out of

School to do casual jobs because her aunt's level of income could not sustain her. She is married
to John whom we can also suggest he is illiterate because of the casual job he does at the mine.
Their education level does not enable them to get good jobs and therefore they are subjected to
poor health. We are told that when John is injured, he is not able to take care of himself and
therefore, Carla takes the responsibility of taking care of Him. Robbie managed to complete
grade 12 but the case study tells us that he did not do well in School. Therefore, Robbie cannot
get a good job and therefore unable to access good health. Annie dropped out of School and is
living with her boyfriend. Her education level cannot get her a good job and therefore she cannot
get access to good health. This tells us that the low education level of the people of the people in
the community subjects them to stress, poor health and low self-esteem.
The physical environment, as shown in the case study, is imperfect. We are told that it is a
mining town. This means that the place is crowded; there are inadequate health facilities, weak
house structures, and poor roads (Syerov & Fedushko2019). This is also seen when John is
injured at the mine, the employer does not take him to hospital or even showing any form of
care. Carla takes up the responsibility of taking care of him. The case study also tells us that Josh
and Annie are living in a one-room apartment with her boyfriend, Josh. Furthermore, they are
expecting a child still in the one-room apartment. The apartment is not conducive to their health
because if one gets an airborne disease, they will both suffer from the disease.
There is a sign of support networks in the case study, though the support is very poor. This
might lead to poor health or access to excellent health services. When John is injured, she is
supported by her wife Carla but the support is very minimal. This subjects him to poor health
(Wickersham et al. 2019).

• Addressing poverty as a social health determinant.
Poverty is one of the determinants of people's health in society. Many people in the
community as per the case study are very poor (de Souza et al., 2017). Therefore, the
government should improve the economic stability of the people by creating employment
opportunities for the people. This will enable the community members to access good health.
Children should be taken to School at an early age to improve the education levels of the
community. Finally, the government should ensure that excellent health care facilities are built in
the city so that people can access good health (Garg, Boynton and Dworkin 2016).
• How health professionals can work to address the social determinants of health.
The health experts can deal with the social factors of health by creating awareness
to all the stake-holders; this involves both the government and the non-governmental
institutions (Goncalves, 2019). The health professionals can assist the poor people in the
society by reducing the costs of the health services. This will make everybody both the
poor and the abundant access to good health. The health experts can also advocate for
laws that will help everyone in the society to be given good health care (Davinson,
Cotrim and Goncalves, 2019).
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