Understanding the social determinants of health can shed insight into the health status of our population. True health equity will not be achieved until we address the effects of physical environment, social environment, health services systems, individual behavior, biology and genetics. The resources on this page will help the PA educator to help students understand the interplay of all of these factors.
Data
- Healthy People 2020. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. This site is a primer for the topic of social determinates of health as well as a site to find data and resources.
- The World Health Organization. This site is a repository of global data. According to the website, “The WHO Indicator and Measurement Registry (IMR) is a central source of metadata of health-related indicators used by WHO and other organizations. It includes indicator definitions, data sources, methods of estimation and other information that allow users to get better understanding of their indicators of interest.”
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This site maintained by the CDC provides a link to many resources including articles, white papers, slide sets and videos on many social determinants.
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This site has several links to articles social determinant topics. It also has “County Heath Rankings and Roadmaps” which health data for each county in each state in the nation. It also includes a link to the “Action Center” which provides tools increase healthier environments.
Videos & Toolkits
Videos
- Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? Public Broadcasting Service. An acclaimed seven-part documentary series broadcasted by PBS that explores racial & socioeconomic inequalities in health. The video is available for $295 for colleges at http://www.unnaturalcauses.org, including a DVD and site/local streaming license. Also available, the “Unnatural Causes” Facilitator’s Guide.
Toolkits
- Social Determinants of Health Initiative: A Toolkit for Collaboration. Association of Academic Health Centers. The toolkit includes articles, reports and comprehensive resources on social determinants of health including a self-assessment tool.
Articles & Publications
- Access to care: Beyond health insurance. Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants. 2013. Strand de Oliveira J.
- Caring for the disadvantaged: The role of physician assistants. Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants. 2014. Henry L, Hooker R.
- Closing the gap in a generation: health equity through action on the social determinants of health. The Lancet. 2008. Marmont M, Friel S, Bell R, et al.
- Social determinants of health inequities. The Lancet. 2005. Marmont, M.
Websites
- Social Determinants of Health. Beyond Flexner. Beyond Flexner is a national movement, focused on health equity and training health professionals as agents of more equitable health care. This site has several videos from the “Beyond Flexner 2015 Insights Conference” as well as other resources.