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Social Determinants of Health

HLTH 101/3.0

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Code/Units

HLTH 101/3.0

Exclusions

GLPH 171

Discipline

Health Studies

Faculty

Arts and Science

Program Year

1
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Overview

The founders of the Western medical tradition, Hippocrates and Galen, observed inequalities in health related to social circumstances over two thousand years ago. They noticed that some groups of people in ancient Greece had higher rates of sickness and died earlier than other groups. Similar observations can be made in Canada today, where, for example, people who are poor live shorter, sicker lives than those who are better off, and Aboriginal people have much higher rates of almost all diseases and a significantly shorter life span than non-Aboriginal Canadians. Whether the main causes of disease in countries are infectious (as in developing countries, or in Western industrialized countries in the past) or related to lifestyle, the poor contract those diseases more often and die of them sooner than those who are richer. When whole groups of people suffer a similar fate, we look to explanations that are beyond the individual—instead we look to social, economic, political and historical explanations.

The social determinants of health (SDOH) are social, political, economic and cultural conditions, forces and factors that influence how health is distributed among entire groups and populations. Like the field of public health, of which social determinants is a part, the study of the SDOH is an interdisciplinary field of study that draws on research and scholarship from many areas including sociology, anthropology, political science, policy studies, epidemiology, health studies and critical gender and race studies. The course will introduce basic concepts in public health and then examine fundamental determinants of health, including income and social class, ethnicity and racism and will focus on selected specific determinants (e.g. food security) and health issues (e.g. tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS).

Learning Outcomes

After completing this course, students will be able:

  • To recognize and be able to define and apply key concepts in public, population and global health
  • To critically analyze the social determinants of health in Canadian and global contexts
  • To apply course concepts in the analysis of a novel
  • To write more effectively
  • To apply their knowledge of the principles of academic integrity in their writing
  • To advocate to improve the social determinants of health in the world outside the university

Terms

Winter 2023
Course Dates
January 9 – April 10, 2023
Exam Dates
April 14 – 27, 2023
Delivery Mode
Online

Evaluation

25% - Quizzes
15% - Forum Discussion
20% - Short Essay
5% - Thesis Statement
35% - Final Essay

** Evaluation Subject to Change **

Instructor Information

Eun Jung (ej40@queensu.ca)

Textbook and Materials

ASO reserves the right to make changes to the required material list as received by the instructor before the course starts. Please refer to the Campus Bookstore website at http://www.campusbookstore.com/Textbooks/Search-Engine to obtain the most up-to-date list of required materials for this course before purchasing them.

Required Textbooks

  • Jesse T. (2019). From the Ashes: My Story of Being Métis, Homeless, and Finding My Way. Simon & Schuster.
  • Meili R (2018). A Healthy Society: How a Focus on Health Care Can Revive Canadian Democracy (2nd Ed.). Vancouver: Purich Books.
  • Raphael D (2016). About Canada: Health and Illness (2nd Ed.). Blackpoint, Nova Scotia, and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing.

** Subject to change **

Time Commitment

To complete the readings, assignments, and course activities, students can expect to spend on average, about 10 hours per week (117 - 120 hours per term) on the course.

Summer (May–July) 2023
Course Dates
May 1 – July 21, 2023
Delivery Mode
Online

Evaluation

25% - Quizzes
15% - Forum Discussion
20% - Short Essay
5% - Thesis Statement
35% - Final Essay

** Evaluation Subject to Change **

Instructor Information

Steve Ferguson (steve.ferguson@queensu.ca)

Textbook and Materials

ASO reserves the right to make changes to the required material list as received by the instructor before the course starts. Please refer to the Campus Bookstore website at http://www.campusbookstore.com/Textbooks/Search-Engine to obtain the most up-to-date list of required materials for this course before purchasing them.

Lupick T (2017). Fighting for Space: How a Group of Drug Users Transformed One City’s Struggle with Addiction. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press.

Meili R (2018). A Healthy Society: How a Focus on Health Care Can Revive Canadian Democracy (2nd Ed.). Vancouver: Purich Books.

Raphael D (2016). About Canada: Health and Illness (2nd Ed.). Blackpoint, Nova Scotia, and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing.

** Subject to change **

Time Commitment

To complete the readings, assignments, and course activities, students can expect to spend on average, about 10 hours per week (117 - 120 hours per term) on the course.

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