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

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on sleep in brain health

LIVE: Thursday 2nd May 2024, 18:00-19:30 (CEST)

Quality sleep is essential for health. But what happens to our brains when sleep patterns are disturbed? Join our experts to explore the interplay between sleep disruption and neurological diseases, and the questions that you need to be asking your patients to help you prevent the harmful effects of sleep deprivation.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
International Journal for Equity in Health
Published in: International Journal for Equity in Health 1/2011

Open Access 01-12-2011 | Research

The influence of social capital and socio-economic conditions on self-rated health among residents of an economically and health-deprived South African township

Authors: Jane M Cramm, Anna P Nieboer

Published in: International Journal for Equity in Health | Issue 1/2011

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

Surprisingly few studies have investigated the interplay of multiple factors affecting self-rated health outcomes and the role of social capital on health in developing countries, a prerequisite to strengthening our understanding of the influence of social and economic conditions on health and the most effective aid. Our study aimed to identify social and economic conditions for health among residents of an economically and health-deprived community.

Methods

Data were gathered through a survey administered to respondents from 1,020 households in Grahamstown a suburb in the Eastern Cape, South Africa (response rate 97.9%). We investigated the influence of social and economic conditions (education, employment, income, social capital, housing quality and neighborhood quality) on self-rated health. We used ordinal logistic regression analyses to identify the relationship of these conditions and self-rated health.

Results

Our study found that education and social capital positively correlated with health; unemployment, poor educational level and advanced age negatively correlated. We found no significant correlations between self-rated health and housing quality, neighbourhood quality, income, gender, or marital status.

Conclusion

We highlight the possible impacts of social capital, employment, and education on health, and suggest that health outcomes may be improved through interventions beyond the health system: creating job opportunities, strengthening social capital, bettering educational systems, and promoting educational access. Policymakers should consider the benefits of such programmes when addressing health outcomes in financially distressed districts.
Literature
1.
Cockerham WC: Medical Sociology. 2010, New Yersey: Pearson Education International
2.
3.
Wilson J: Not so special after all? Daniels and the social determinants of health. J Med Ethics. 2009, 35: 3-6. 10.1136/jme.2008.024406.CrossRefPubMed
4.
Idrovo AJ, Ruiz-Rodriguez M, Manzano-Patiño AP: Beyond the income inequality hypothesis and human health: a worldwide exploration. Revista de Saúde Pública. 2010, 44 (suppl 4): 695-702.CrossRefPubMed
5.
Pronyk PM, Harpham T, Busza J, Phetla G, Morison LA, Hargreaves JR, KIM JC, Watts CH, Porter JD: Can social capital be intentionally generated? A randomized trial from rural South Africa. Soc Sci Med. 2008, 67 (suppl 10): 1559-1570.CrossRefPubMed
6.
Harvey PW: Social determinants of health - why we continue to ignore them in the search for improved population health outcomes!. Aust Health Rev. 2006, 30 (suppl 4): 419-423.CrossRefPubMed
7.
Mohajer N, Earnest J: Widening the aim of health promotion to include the most disadvantaged: vulnerable adolescents and the social determinants of health. Health Educ Res. 2010, 25 (suppl 3): 387-394.CrossRefPubMed
8.
Semenza JC: Strategies to intervene on social determinants of infectious diseases. Euro surveill. 2010, 15 (suppl 27): pii=19611
9.
Martin G, Bird P, Crichton C: Global health: where are our priorities?. Br Med Bull. 2009, 91: 23-28. 10.1093/bmb/ldp025.CrossRefPubMed
10.
11.
Kelly MP, Morgan A, Bonnefoy J, Butt J, Bergman V: The social determinants of health: developing an evidence base for political action (measurement and evidence knowledge network). 2007, Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organisation
12.
Setel PW, Macfarlane SB, Szreter S, Mikkelsen L, Jha P, Stout S, AbouZahr C: A scandal of invisibility: making everyone count by counting everyone. Lancet. 2007, 370: 1569-1577. 10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61307-5.CrossRefPubMed
13.
Brassard P, Anderson KK, Menzies D, Schwartzman K, Macdonald ME: Knowledge and perceptions of tuberculosis among a sample of urban Aboriginal people. J Community Health. 2008, 33: 192-198. 10.1007/s10900-008-9085-9.CrossRefPubMed
14.
Mangesho PE, Shayo E, Makunde WH, Keto GBS, Mandara CI, Kamugisha ML, Kilale AM, Ishengoma DR: Community knowledge, attitudes and practices towards tuberculosis and its treatment in Mpwapwa District, central Tanzania. Tanzan health res bull. 2007, 9: 38-43.PubMed
15.
Subramanian SV, Kawachi I: Whose health is affected by income inequality? A multilevel interaction analysis of contemporaneous and lagged effects of state income inequality on individual self-rated health in the United States. Health Place. 2006, 12: 141-156. 10.1016/j.healthplace.2004.11.001.CrossRefPubMed
16.
Harling G, Ehrlich R, Myer L: The social epidemiology of tuberculosis in South Africa: a multilevel analysis. Soc Sci Med. 2008, 66 (Suppl 2): 492-505.CrossRefPubMed
17.
Acevedo-Garcia D: Zip code-level risk factors for tuberculosis: neighborhood environment and residential segregation in New Jersey, 1985-1992. Am J Public Health. 2006, 91 (5): 734-741.
18.
McKay CM, Bell-Ellison BA, Wallace K, Ferron JM: A multilevel study of the associations between economic and social context, stage of adolescence, and physical activity and body mass index. Pediatrics. 2007, 119: S84-S91. 10.1542/peds.2006-2089M.CrossRefPubMed
19.
Cramm JM, Koolman X, Møller V, Nieboer AP: Socio-economic status and self-reported tuberculosis: a multilevel analysis in a low-income township in the Eastern Cape South Africa. Journal of Public Health in Africa. 2011, 2:e34: 143-146.
20.
Wen M, Browning CR, Cagney KA: Poverty, affluence, and income inequality: neighborhood economic structure and its implications for health. Soc Sci Med. 2003, 57: 843-860. 10.1016/S0277-9536(02)00457-4.CrossRefPubMed
21.
Rose R: How much does social capital add to individual health? A survey study of Russians. Soc Sci Med. 2000, 51 (9): 1421-1435. 10.1016/S0277-9536(00)00106-4.CrossRefPubMed
22.
Hyyppä MT, Mäki J: Social participation and health in a community rich in stock of social capital. Health Educ Res. 2003, 18 (6): 770-779. 10.1093/her/cyf044.CrossRefPubMed
23.
Ziersch AM: Health implications of access to social capital: findings from an Australian study. Soc Sci Med. 2005, 61 (10): 2119-2131. 10.1016/j.socscimed.2005.01.015.CrossRefPubMed
24.
Lochner K, Kawachi I, Brennan RT, Buka SL: Social capital and neighborhood mortality rates in Chicago. Soc Sci Med. 2003, 56: 1797-1805. 10.1016/S0277-9536(02)00177-6.CrossRefPubMed
25.
Requena F: Social capital, satisfaction, and quality of life in the workplace. Soc Indic Res. 2003, 61 (Suppl 3): 331-360.CrossRef
26.
Putnam RD: Bowling Alone. The Collapse and Revival of American Community. 2000, London: Simon and Schuster
27.
Kawachi I, Berkman L: Social cohesion, social capital and health. Social epidemioology. Edited by: Kawachi I, Berkman L. 2000, NewYork: Oxford University Press, 174-190.
28.
Rogers EM: Diffusion of innovations. 2003, New York: The Free Press, 5
29.
Cramm JM, Nieboer AP: The relationship between (stigmatizing) ideas and the lay public preferences regarding tuberculosis treatment in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Int J Equity Health. 2011, 10 (Suppl 1): 2-PubMedCentralCrossRefPubMed
30.
Møller V, Erstad I, Cramm JM, Nieboer AP, Finkenflügel H, Radloff S, Ndoro T, Kwizera SA: Delays in presenting for TB treatment: Fears related to learning one is HIV positive. Afr J AIDS Res. 2011, 10 (Suppl 1): 25-36.CrossRefPubMed
31.
Cramm JM, Finkenflügel HJM, Møller V, Nieboer AP: TB treatment initiation and adherence in a South African community influenced more by perceptions than by knowledge of tuberculosis. BMC Public Health. 2010, 10 (Suppl 72): 1-8.
32.
Cramm JM, van Exel J, Møller V, Finkenflügel HJM: Patient views on determinants of compliance with tuberculosis treatment in the Eastern Cape, South Africa: an application of Q-methodology. Patient. 2010, 3 (Suppl 3): 159-172.CrossRefPubMed
33.
Kim D, Kawachi I: U.S. state-level social capital and health related quality of life: multilevel evidence of main, mediating, and modifying effects. Ann Epidemiol. 2007, 17 (Suppl 4): 258-269.CrossRefPubMed
34.
Poortinga W: Do health behaviors mediate the association between social capital and health?. Prev Med. 2006, 43: 488-493. 10.1016/j.ypmed.2006.06.004.CrossRefPubMed
35.
Winkelman R: Unemployment, social capital, and subjective well-being. J Happiness Stud. 2009, 10 (Suppl 4): 421-430.CrossRef
36.
Camfield L, Skevington SM: On subjective well-being and quality of life. J Health Psychol. 2008, 13: 764-775. 10.1177/1359105308093860.CrossRefPubMed
37.
Cramm JM, Møller V, Nieboer AP: Improving subjective well-being of the poor in the Eastern Cape. J Health Psychol. 2010, 15 (7): 1012-1019. 10.1177/1359105310367833.CrossRefPubMed
38.
Forbes A, Wainwright SP: On the methodological, theoretical and philosophical context of health inequalities research: a critique. Soc Sci Med. 2001, 53: 801-816. 10.1016/S0277-9536(00)00383-X.CrossRefPubMed
39.
Møller V, Erstad I: Stigma associated with tuberculosis in a time of HIV/AIDS: narratives from the Eastern Cape, South Africa. South African Review of Sociology. 2007, 38: 103-119.CrossRef
40.
Noble M, Barnes H, Wright G, Roberts B: Small area indices of multiple deprivation in South Africa. Soc Indic Res. 2010, 95: 281-297. 10.1007/s11205-009-9460-7.CrossRef
41.
Møller V: Living in Rhini. A 2007 update on the 1999 social indicators report. 2007, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Research Report Series No. 14
42.
43.
Lopez R: Income inequality and self-rated health in US metropolitan areas: A multi-level analysis. Soc Sci Med. 2004, 59: 2409-2419. 10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.03.033.CrossRefPubMed
44.
Baron-Epel O: Self-reported health. Encyclopedia of health and behavior. Edited by: Anderson NB. 2004, Sage CA, Thousand Oaks
45.
Israel BA, Krieger J, Vlahov D, Ciske S, Foley M, Fortin P, Guzman JR, Lichtenstein R, McGranaghan R, Palermo A-G, Tang G: Challenges and facilitating factors in sustaining community-based participatory research partnerships: lessons learned from the Detroit, New York City and Seattle urban research centers. J Urban Health. 2006, 83 (Suppl 6):
46.
Farquhar SA, Michael YL, Wiggins N: Building on history and social capital to create change in two urban communities. Am J Public Health. 2005, 95 (4): 596-601. 10.2105/AJPH.2004.048280.PubMedCentralCrossRefPubMed
47.
Völker B, Flap H, Lindenberg S: When are neighborhoods communities? Community in Dutch neighborhoods. Eur Sociol Rev. 2007, 23 (Suppl 1): 99-114.
48.
Uphoff N, Wijayaratna CM: Demonstrated Benefits from Social Capital: The Productivity of Farmer Organizations in Gal Oya, Sri Lanka. World Dev. 2000, 28: 1875-1890. 10.1016/S0305-750X(00)00063-2.CrossRef
Metadata
Title
The influence of social capital and socio-economic conditions on self-rated health among residents of an economically and health-deprived South African township
Authors
Jane M Cramm
Anna P Nieboer
Publication date
01-12-2011
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
International Journal for Equity in Health / Issue 1/2011
Electronic ISSN: 1475-9276
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-9276-10-51

Other articles of this Issue 1/2011

International Journal for Equity in Health 1/2011 Go to the issue

Research

Factors affecting the use of maternal health services in Madhya Pradesh state of India: a multilevel analysis

Research

The relationship between (stigmatizing) views and lay public preferences regarding tuberculosis treatment in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

Research

Explaining household socio-economic related child health inequalities using multiple methods in three diverse settings in South Africa

Research

Income inequities in end-of-life health care spending in British Columbia, Canada: A cross-sectional analysis, 2004-2006

Research

A rapid equity focused health impact assessment of a policy implementation plan: An Australian case study and impact evaluation

Research

Barriers to gender-equitable HIV testing: going beyond routine screening for pregnant women in Nova Scotia, Canada