Social Determinants Of Health: A Case Study On The Impact Of Unemployment On A Family In Australia

Introduction to the 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 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. 

Overview of the Social Determinants of Health

In this case study poor socioeconomic status was the main or common social determinant of health for all the family members. Economic status or unemployment is directly associated with the health outcome of the individuals (Navarro, 2009). It might force an individual to not consuming health diet and living in unhealthy conditions which might further cause physical and psychological issues (Bambra et al., 2010). Carla and John experienced this issues so doe their daughter and her boyfriend. Carla’s close friends moved to the city area for employments, so does her children, this might cause psychological issues.  Employment stability can be the best strategy for addressing the issues that are being experienced by Carla and her family. This can be achieved with the help of local government and collaborations with the social care organisations (Benach, et al., 2014). Unemployed people are more probable to self-reported negative health status, might have additional risk of depression, and mortality. Additionally unemployment is also linked with the other social determinants of health like food insecurities, and unstable housing, dealing with poor socioeconomic status can be an important factor to step to cure the significant health associated social needs (Brand, 2015). 

There are different programs are being conducted by Australian government in order to deal with employment inequalities, the social service providers needs to make the people aware about those facilities (Christensen, and Petrie, 2013). The government bodies needs to provide the organisations with financial resources for implanting the supportive programs. The policy maker should promote the fair employment and decent work. Complete and fair employment must be a focused goal of nationwide social and economic policy making. The employment should be provide to the people living in backward areas so they do not  have to detached from their families for earring, this will enhance the health life style and living standard among the people (Francis, 2012). 

Most of the people are aware of the health programs conducted by the local government and facilities are being provided by local social service providers. Due to this lack of awareness people do not get treatment and they ignore the disease. The health professionals such as community nurses can educate the people about the services. They can also educate the patient about the negative impacts of ignoring the health problems for a longer time. The community nurses can start a campaign or education programs with local social service providers and reach to the people for educating them (Solar, and Irwin, 2010).  Hospitals that are transferring more toward the value-based upkeep models such as answerable care officialdoms (ACOs) and hustled or capitated payments are organising the high investments and most action around addressing social requirements. These hospitals are providing health facilities for both economically strong and poor people equally. There are different hospitals provides patient cantered care to address the medical and social requirements comprising the unemployment of low earing patients. The hospitals should partner with local organisations that offer the diseased person resources to find employment (Deloitte, 2017). 

References

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Braveman, P., Egerter, S. and Williams, D.R., 2011. The social determinants of health: coming of age. Annual review of public health, 32, pp.381-398.

Christensen, H. and Petrie, K., 2013. State of the e-mental health field in Australia: where are we now?. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 47(2), pp.117-120.

Deloitte. 2017. Social determinants of health: How are the hospitals and health systems investing in and addressing social needs [online]. Available from: https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/life-sciences-health-care/us-lshc-addressing-social-determinants-of-health.pdf [Accessed 30 March 2019].

Francis, K., 2012. Health and health practice in rural Australia: where are we, where to from here?. Online Journal of Rural Nursing and Health Care, 5(1), pp.28-36.

Navarro, V., 2009. What we mean by social determinants of health. International Journal of Health Services, 39(3), pp.423-441.

Queensland Health. 2001. Social Determinants of Health – the Role of Public Health Services, 2001

Solar, O. and Irwin, A., 2010. A conceptual framework for action on the social determinants of health.

The Australia bureau Statistics. 2017. Statistics [online]. Available from: https://www.abs.gov.au/browse?opendocument&ref=topBar [Accessed 30 March 2019].

World Health Organisation. 2019. Social determinants of health [online]. Available from: https://www.who.int/social_determinants/en/ [Accessed 30 March 2019].