Introduction:
Life expectancy in developed countries has increased from less that 50 years in 1900 to nearly 80 years today. The greatest improvement occurred in the first half of the 20th century, when life expectancy in the United States and many parts of Europe increased by an average of 20 years, largely because of universal availability of clean water and rapid declines in infectious disease, as well as broad economic growth, rising living standards, and improved nutritional status (T.R. Frieden, 2011). As we can see, it is not only one factor that changed the statistics, but rather different ones from various categories. After reviewing varied articles and reports, it is clear the health status is strongly influenced by broad range of factors, which could be personal, social, environmental, political, and many others. They are known as social determinants of health. If they are insufficient, they could contribute to negative outcomes where person’s address is a better forecaster of health and wellbeing than his or her genotype.
In this blog posting I will present a multilevel model of health and explain how it applies to obesity and diabetes.
Ecological Model of Health:
J. Early suggested to use broader approach to health and healthcare. She mentioned Bronfenbrenner’s ecological framework for human development, that was introduced decades ago and has formed the basis of what is now the Social Ecological Model of Health. The model recognizes the broader interplay of influencing forces beyond the personal and demonstrates the interaction between, and interdependence among, the individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, and societal/policy factors.
The model consists of five levels (UNICEF, 2008):
Application of the model to obesity and diabetes:
Obesity and diabetes become one of the most devastating, but at the same time preventable health public problem in North America and in the world. In the below diagram, I applied the problem of obesity and diabetes into the framework of the Social Ecological Model of Health to demonstrate how those health issues are influenced by other systems, groups, and interdependencies between determinants of health.
Conclusion:
In my next blog I will continue expanding on the issue of diabetes within a multilevel context of the Social Ecological Model of Health since it offers the potential to guide efforts to expand the scope and reach of diabetes prevention and management programs.
References:
Early, J. (2016). The Social-Ecological Model: A Framework for Prevention. Journal of Nursing and Health Studies.
Intro to the ecological model. (2017, February 6). Retrieved from Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NNw0GSUR-c
The Social Ecological Model: A Framework for Prevention. (2014, April 21). Retrieved from Centre for disease control and prevention: https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/publichealthissue/social-ecologicalmodel.html
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