Social Determinants of Health s1

SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH AND CHILD/YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH

These are some initial discussion points for the NSASW as it commences work on its social justice/advocacy role re child and youth mental health. Social determinants of health are those social things that exist outside of the person, yet impact on the person’s health. These include income security, early childhood education, total education achieved, employment, housing adequacy, gender, race, class, urban/rural location, and the presence of peace/safety/freedom. They also include adequacy and responsiveness of services that can impact positively or negatively on health. Because these determinants are social in their origin and maintenance, problems related to them can be seen through the lens of social justice. Specifically, we can ask how disparities in these determinants arise and what their effects are on people, as well as on society as a whole. In applying the social justice lens to child and youth mental health, we can focus on many different issues that are readily apparent. Some examples include the effects of poverty, violence, educational problems, involvement in child welfare systems, substandard housing, and racial prejudice. We can ask how children can become vulnerable to poor mental health because of these social factors, and how the course of such vulnerability will be influenced by such ongoing factors. In Nova Scotia, three problems that come readily to mind are: overall poverty levels; lack of services for youth between 16-19 years of age, and lack of preventative services for families. For example, what are the differences for a boy 17 years old, who acts out due to depressed mood, if he is a) white, middle-class, suburban; versus b) black, poor, from Preston? How do income and social status influence how that boy will be treated? Which is more likely to end up in the mental health-care system, versus the justice system?

Dominic Boyd MSW, RSW July 22nd, 2013