Unit One: Introduction to the Social Determinants of Health and Population Health Frameworks

 

Learning Objectives

• Introduce judges to how social factors, the social determinants of health (SDOH), shape individual and population health.

• Enable judges to identify and understand the SDOH and how they help shape individual and population health.

• Shift attendees’ focus away from individual level (genetic/biomedical/behavioral choices) factors that influence health to population level factors and provide a socio-ecological model of health.

• Help attendees to appreciate the relevance of SDOH and the distinction between individual and population level factors in a case relating to unsafe housing.

 

Topics to be Discussed

• Clark v. NYC Housing Authority

• Introduction to the SDOH

• Socio-ecological model of understanding individual health

• Interplay between the SDOH and courts

• The population approach

 

 

Unit Two: Poverty as a Social Determinant of Health

 

Learning Objectives

• Help attendees understand how poverty works as an upstream SDOH.

• Analyze how poverty can impact and shape individual and population health through a child custody case.

• Help attendees to recognize the strengths and limitations of controlled experiments in understanding the SDOH.

 

Topics to be Discussed

• Population health outcomes

• Poverty as an upstream SDOH

• How the SDOH affect obesity

• Natural and quasi experiments

• In re Brittany T.

 

 

Unit Three: Racism as a Social Determinant of Health

 

Learning Objectives

• Analyze how racism can impact and shape individual and population health through a case study on racism and common challenges experienced by people of color.

• Reflect on how poverty and racism interact with one another by analyzing a flow chart of racial differences in flexible resources and socioeconomic status.

• Understand some of the strengths and weaknesses of studies that rely on available data sets.

 

Topics to be Discussed

• Racism as a SDOH

• SDOH research using available data sets.

• U.S. v. Harris

 

Unit Four: Housing

 

Learning Objectives

• Help attendees understand how housing operates as a meso-level SDOH.

• Illustrate the value and appropriate use of qualitative research.

• Analyze how housing can impact and shape individual and population health.

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Topics to be Discussed

• Housing as a SDOH

• Qualitative Research

• Norwich Housing Authority v. Mayo