Week 4 discussion
Key Health Determinants
Did you know that the United States has a higher rate of
infant mortality than Japan (CIA, n.d.)? Or, as Dr. Beilenson states in this
week’s media presentation, that “your zip code that you live in makes more
difference in your health and well-being than the genetic code that you’re born
with?” What causes these differences in health outcomes?
To effectively develop policies and programs to improve
population health, it is useful to use a framework to guide the process.
Different organizations and governmental agencies (for example, Healthy People
2020) have created a variety of such frameworks, which establish measures for
assessing population health. These measures frequently are derived from the
examination of epidemiologic data, which include key measures of population
health such as mortality, morbidity, life expectancy, etc. Within each measure
are a variety of progress indicators that use epidemiologic data to assess
improvement or change.
For this Discussion, you will apply a framework developed by
Kindig, Asada, and Booske (2008) to a population health issue of interest to
you. This framework includes five key health determinants that should be
considered when developing policies and programs to improve population health:
access to health care, individual behavior, social environment, physical
environment, and genetics.
To prepare:
Review the article “A Population Health Framework for
Setting National and State Health Goals,” focusing on population health
determinants.
Review the information in the blog post “What Is Population
Health?”
With this information in mind, elect a population health
issue that is of interest to you.
Using this week’s Learning Resources, the Walden Library,
and other relevant resources, conduct a search to locate current data on your
population health issue.
Consider how epidemiologic data has been used to design
population health measures and policy initiatives in addressing this issue.
By Day 3
Post a summary of how the five population health
determinants (access to health care, individual behavior, social environment,
physical environment, and genetics) affect your selected health issue, and
which determinants you think are most impactful for that particular issue and
why. Explain how epidemiologic data supports the significance of your issue,
and explain how this data has been used in designing population health measures
and policy initiatives.
Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.
By Day 6
Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different
days in one or more of the following ways:
Ask a probing question, substantiated with additional background
information, evidence, or research using an in-text citation in APA format.
Share an insight from having read your colleagues’ postings,
synthesizing the information to provide new perspectives.
Offer and support an alternative perspective using readings
from the classroom or from your own research in the Walden Library.
Validate an idea with your own experience and additional
research.
Make a suggestion based on additional evidence drawn from
readings or after synthesizing multiple postings.
Expand on your colleagues’ postings by providing additional
insights or contrasting perspectives based on readings and evidence.
References:
Central Intelligence Agency. (n.d.) The world factbook.
Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2091rank.html
Kindig, D., Asada, Y., & Booske, B. (2008). A population
health framework for setting national and state health goals. JAMA, 299(17),
2081–2083. doi: 10.1001/jama.299.17.2081
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