PHN-690 – Topic 8 DQ 1- Measurement Strategies

Topic 8 DQ 1

QUESTION- Why is it critical to measure determinants of health? List three strategies for measuring determinants of health in populations and identify which strategy applies to each determinant of health.

The three determinants of health will refer to are

(1) Nutrition,

(2) lifestyle

(3) environment

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Solution

Health Determinants

The social determinants of health are non-medical factors that influence the health of a person or a community. The social determinants impact the level of health of an individual or a society and thus public healthcare providers need to measure the level of influence of the determinants on the quality of health of the population. Through measuring the determinants, the healthcare providers acquire the data for designing strategic plans for improving the quality of health relative to the social health determinants. Some of the key determinants of health include lifestyle, nutrition, and environment.

Lifestyle is a key health determinant associated with personal habits and behaviors that may lead to better or adverse health conditions. The screening strategy is majorly used in measuring lifestyle determinants of health in a population. The screening involves asking questions through questionnaires or structured interviews using screening tools that help in determining the levels of substance dependence and other behavioral lifestyles such as sedentary lifestyles (Arora & Gray, 2020).

There are various strategies for measuring nutrition as a health determinant. The strategies include Sentinel site surveillance, school census data, repeated small-scale surveys, and growth monitoring. The sentinel site surveillance is majorly used for a general population where a limited number of sites are selected to detect the general wellbeing of the population. According to Cheng et al. (2019), the sentinel site surveillance monitors indicators such as nutritional status, dietary issues, morbidity, and food security. The data after collection is centrally analyzed in determining the quality of health.

The environmental factors contribute to better or ill health depending on their impact on the general population. Adverse environments such as water, air, or sound polluted environment can adversely affect the health of the people around. The AARP’s Livability Index is effective in measuring the quality of the environment. According to Zangiabadi & Dadbood, (2019), the livability index evaluates the quality of housing, the living conditions, transportation modes, and general quality of air and water being used in an area.

References

Arora, T., & Grey, I. (2020). Health behavior changes during COVID-19 and the potential consequences: A mini-review. Journal of Health Psychology, 25(9), 1155–1163. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105320937053

Cheng, A. C., Holmes, M., Dwyer, D. E., Senenayake, S., Cooley, L., Irving, L., Simpson, G., Korman, T., Macartney, K., Friedman, N. D., Wark, P., Holwell, A., Blyth, C., Bowler, S., Upton, J., Waterer, G., Kotsimbos, T., & Kelly, P. (2019). Influenza epidemiology in patients admitted to sentinel Australian hospitals in 2017: the Influenza Complications Alert Network (FluCAN). Communicable Diseases Intelligence, 43. https://doi.org/10.33321/cdi.2019.43.39

Zangiabadi, A., & Dadbood, A. (2019). Prioritization of Effective Factors on Vulnerable Areas of Physical Texture of Gorgan City, Iran. Geographical Researches Quarterly Journal, 34(3), 369–376. https://doi.org/10.29252/geores.34.3.369