Social determinant of health, for the purpose of this assignment, refers to factors that have an impact on an individual’s life and health. These factors, as explicated by Synder-Mackler et al. (2020), are major contributors of high morbidity and mortality rate. Freij et al. (2019), in their study, described social determinant of health as consisting of “education, economic stability, neighborhood and environment, social and community context and healthcare” (p. 139). From this, neighborhood is the main social determinant of health that affects the Jason family. As evidenced in part 1, the father owns a sanitaryware shop with the wife working as a registered nurse in one of the healthcare facilities in the region. Because of the nature of their work, and the fact that the two were working even during the pandemic, the father was at one point exposed to Covid-19. The mother, on the other hand, is constantly at risk of being exposed to hospital-acquired infections – she might bring the infections home. Their five year old son is highly vulnerable to any form illness because he is asthmatic.
Age Appropriate Screening for Each Family Member
Health screening is critical, especially at the family level since it informs members of their health status. According to Francis et al. (2018), screening helps ensure care providers identify illness before it worsens. Firstly, the mother comes from a family with a history of breast cancer. Therefore, mammography screening would be appropriate for her, especially since she is in her early fifties – it is known to lower mortality rate in women (Miles et al., 2021). Secondly, the age-appropriate screening for the father will be for lung cancer because he used to smoke up to three packets of cigarettes a day (Zahnd & Eberth, 2019). The 5-year old son should be screened for asthma to help ensure he is capable of maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Assessment of Health Model
The model that will help the family in creating a plan of action is the agent-host environment model. The model has proven effective when it comes to examining what causes certain diseases in humans. This model is often utilized by social workers since it helps them develop a clear understanding of the existing relationship between humans and the environment. It also analyzes the safety aspect of a given environment and its overall impact on a person. According to Keyes et al. (2021), the agent-host environment model is used to show “why some individuals, while living in a particular area, are at risk for being susceptible to the disease” (p.529). This model is the best option for this family, specifically the mother because she works in a healthcare facility where she is constantly exposed to hospital-acquired infections. This model, therefore, helps a lot understand how she might contract hospital-acquired infection in the work environment, bring them to their homes and infect their family members. It is important to note that are healthcare providers not only acquire infections but also act as a source of infection to others.
Application of Health Model
Using the agent-host environment model, there are several steps that could be taken for a family-centered health promotion. One such step is primary prevention which is undertaken right before the occurrence of an illness (Zahnd & Eberth, 2019). As for this family, hospital-acquired infection could be avoided once the mother practices proper hand hygiene and proper use of antimicrobials. On communication, the strategy is where every family member is informed of the proper ways of maintaining proper hand hygiene. Similarly, the family show put in place measures that ensure every member is actively involved in promoting and improving family health. This strategy will work well because the members are only required to follow the proposed recommendation.
Conclusion
Based on the interview conducted in the part I of the family assessment, it emerged clearly that the SDOH that has a major impact on this family is neighborhood. Although there are many screening for different healthcare conditions, the age-appropriate screening for family members are mammography for the mother, screening for lung cancer for the father and asthma for the 5-year old son. Since the mother works as a registered nurse in a healthcare facility, the most appropriate model for creating a plan of action is agent-host environment model.
References
Francis, L., DePriest, K., Wilson, M., & Gross, D. (2018). Child poverty, toxic stress, and social determinants of health: Screening and care coordination. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 23(3). Web.
Freij, M., Dullabh, P., Lewis, S., Smith, S. R., Hovey, L., & Dhopeshwarkar, R. (2019). Incorporating social determinants of health in electronic health records: Qualitative study of current practices among top vendors. The Journal of Medical Internet Research Medical Informatics, 7(2), 138-149. Web.
Keyes, K. M., Kandula, S., Olfson, M., Gould, M. S., MartĂnez-AlĂ©s, G., Rutherford, C., & Shaman, J. (2021). Suicide and the agent–host–environment triad: Leveraging surveillance sources to inform prevention. Psychological Medicine, 51(4), 529-537. Web.
Miles, R. C., Nicolae, A., & Ravi, A. (2021). Routine Breast Cancer Screening in Average-Risk Women Younger Than 50 Years: Current Paradigms Based on National Guidelines. Oncology, 35(6), 320-323. Web.
Snyder-Mackler, N., Burger, J. R., Gaydosh, L., Belsky, D. W., Noppert, G. A., Campos, F. A., & Tung, J. (2020). Social determinants of health and survival in humans and other animals. Science, 368(93), 95-153. Web.
Zahnd, W. E., & Eberth, J. M. (2019). Lung cancer screening utilization: a behavioral risk factor surveillance system analysis. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 57(2), 250-255. Web.