Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress 2023 EHA Congress 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

A round-up of the ONWARDS phase 3 clinical trials evaluating the novel weekly insulin icodec in people with diabetes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
BMC Public Health
Published in: BMC Public Health 1/2013

Open Access 01-12-2013 | Research article

Canadian adolescent perceptions and knowledge about the social determinants of health: an observational study of Kingston, Ontario youth

Authors: Kelly E Kenney, Spencer Moore

Published in: BMC Public Health | Issue 1/2013

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

Upstream social determinants of health (SDH) have become widely acknowledged as lying at the root of poor health outcomes in Canada and globally. The Commission on the Social Determinants of Health maintains that educating the public about the SDH is a key step towards population health equity. Little is known about adolescent perceptions of the determinants of health. Curriculum in Ontario is lacking in SDH content, placing a much greater emphasis on individual, lifestyle behaviors, such as diet, physical activity, and safe sex practices. Identifying a gap in SDH knowledge within the adolescent population is required to advocate for health curriculum revision to include SDH material.

Methods

Student sociodemographic information was obtained through a self-administered questionnaire. Concept mapping exercises were used to determine students’ knowledge of the determinants of health and the SDH. Knowledge was approximated by the relative number of SDH concepts present in student maps. Poisson regression analysis was used to determine correlations between sociodemographic characteristics and SDH knowledge.

Results

Concept maps indicated that students attributed their health primarily to physical determinants versus social determinants; 44% of maps contained no SDH content. Statistical analyses indicated that students’ SDH knowledge varied by their relative socioeconomic status (SES).

Conclusions

Findings suggest that 1) there is an SDH knowledge gap in the adolescent population, and 2) an inequity in adolescent SDH knowledge exists across socio-economic factors. Current Ontario health curriculum requires revision to include SDH material, which will require greater communication and collaboration from both educational institutions and health agencies in Canada.
Literature
1.
Cardarelli , Low , Low : Fundamental determinants of population health. Reinventing public health: Policies and practices for a healthy nation. Edited by: Aday LA. 2005, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass,
2.
Marmot M, Wilkinson RG: Social Determinants of Health. 1999, New York: Oxford University Press
3.
Raphael D: Social determinants of health: present status, unanswered questions, and future directions. Int J Health Serv. 2006, 36: 651-677. 10.2190/3MW4-1EK3-DGRQ-2CRF.CrossRefPubMed
4.
Mikkonen J, Raphael D: Social determinants of heath: the Canadian facts. 2010, Toronto: York University School of Health Policy and Management
5.
Initiative CPH: Select Highlights of Public Views of the Determinants of Health. 2005, Ottawa: The Canadian Institute for Health Information
6.
Woodgate R, Leach J: Youth’s perspectives on the determinants of health. Qual Health Res. 2010, 20: 1173-1182. 10.1177/1049732310370213.CrossRefPubMed
7.
Holmbeck GN, Williams PG, Greenley RN: Adolescent health psychology. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2002, 70: 828-842.CrossRefPubMed
8.
McQueen D, De Salazar L: Health promotion, the Ottawa Charter and ‘developing personal skills’: a compact history of 25 years. Int J Health Promo. 2011, 20: ii194-ii201.
9.
Sallis JF, et al: An ecological approach to creating active living communities. Annu Rev Public Health. 2006, 27: 297-322. 10.1146/annurev.publhealth.27.021405.102100.CrossRefPubMed
10.
Commission on the Social Determinants of Health: Closing the gap in a generation: health equity through action on the social determinants of health. Final Report of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health. 2008, Geneva: World Health Organization
11.
Toga AW, Thompson PM, Sowell ER: Mapping brain maturation. Trends Cogn Neurosci. 2006, 29: 148-159. 10.1016/j.tins.2006.01.007.CrossRef
12.
Miller EK, Freedman DJ, Wallis JD: The prefrontal cortex: categories, concepts and cognitions. Philos Transac Royal Society Biol Sci. 2002, 357: 1123-1136. 10.1098/rstb.2002.1099.CrossRef
13.
Marks R: Schools and health education: what works, what is needed, and why?. Health Educ. 2009, 109: 4-8. 10.1108/09654280910923345.CrossRef
14.
15.
16.
17.
Novak JD: Learning, creating, and using knowledge: Concept maps as facilitative tools in schools and corporations. 1998, Mahweh, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
18.
Hay D, Kinchin I, Lygo-Baker S: Making learning visible: the role of concept mapping in higher education. Studies Higher Educ. 2008, 33: 295-311. 10.1080/03075070802049251.CrossRef
19.
20.
Hill L: Concept mapping to encourage meaningful student learning. Adult Learn. 2005, 16: 7-13.
21.
Passmore GJ: Extending the power of the concept map. Alberta J Educ Res. 2004, 50: 370-391.
22.
Besterfield-Sacre M, Gerchak J, Lyons M, Shuman L, Wolfe H: Scoring concept maps: an integrated rubric for assessing engineering education. J Eng Educ. 2004, 8: 105-115.CrossRef
23.
Zhong-Cheng L, Wilkins R, Kramer M: Effect of neighborhood income and maternal education on birth outcomes: a population-based study. CMAJ. 2006, 174: 1415-1421.CrossRef
24.
Cochrane SH, Leslie J, O’Hara DJ: Parental education and child health: intracountry evidence. Health policy Educ. 1982, 2: 213-250. 10.1016/0165-2281(82)90011-X.CrossRefPubMed
25.
26.
27.
28.
Bacchi C: The politics of research management: Reflections on the gap between what we ‘know’ (about SDH) and what we do. Health Sociol Rev. 2008, 17: 165-176. 10.5172/hesr.451.17.2.165.CrossRef
29.
Wilkinson AV, Vasudevan V, Honn SE, Spitz MR, Chamberlain RM: Sociodemographic characteristics, health beliefs, and the accuracy of cancer knowledge. J cancer educ off j Am Assoc Cancer Educ. 2009, 24: 58-64. 10.1080/08858190802664834.CrossRef
30.
Beier ME, Ackerman P: L: Determinants of health knowledge: an investigation of age, gender, abilities, personality, and interests. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2003, 84: 439-447.CrossRefPubMed
31.
Cubbin C, Winkelby MA: Protective and harmful effects of neighbourhood level deprivation on individual level health knowledge, behavior change, and risk of coronary heart disease. Am J Epidemiol. 2005, 162: 559-568. 10.1093/aje/kwi250.CrossRefPubMed
32.
33.
Mogford E, Gould L, Devoght A: Successes and challenges of teaching the social determinants of health in secondary schools: case examples in Seattle, Washington. Health Promot Pract. 2010, 11: 26S-33S. 10.1177/1524839909360172.CrossRefPubMed
34.
Marmot M, Friel S, Bell R, Houweling TAJ, Taylor S: Closing the gap in a generation: health equity through action on the social determinants of health. Lancet. 2008, 372: 1661-1669. 10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61690-6.CrossRefPubMed
35.
McClure JR, Sonak B, Suen HK: Concept map assessment of classroom learning: reliability, validity, and logistical practicality. J Res Sci Teaching. 1999, 36: 475-492. 10.1002/(SICI)1098-2736(199904)36:4<475::AID-TEA5>3.0.CO;2-O.CrossRef
Metadata
Title
Canadian adolescent perceptions and knowledge about the social determinants of health: an observational study of Kingston, Ontario youth
Authors
Kelly E Kenney
Spencer Moore
Publication date
01-12-2013
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Public Health / Issue 1/2013
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2458
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-781

Other articles of this Issue 1/2013

BMC Public Health 1/2013 Go to the issue

Research article

Exposure to tobacco smoke based on urinary cotinine levels among Israeli smoking and nonsmoking adults: a cross-sectional analysis of the first Israeli human biomonitoring study

Research article

Frequency of child maltreatment in a representative sample of the German population

Research article

Influence of smoking and diet on glycated haemoglobin and 'pre-diabetes’ categorisation: a cross-sectional analysis

Research article

Referring heroin users from compulsory detoxification centers to community methadone maintenance treatment: a comparison of three models

Research article

Alcohol use and spousal mental distress in a population sample: the nord-trøndelag health study

Research article

Knowledge, attitude and practices related to visceral leishmaniasis among residents in Addis Zemen town, South Gondar, Northwest Ethiopia