What Factors Do We Look at When Talking about Health and Wellness? 🤔

This varies based on the therapist's orientation (theory practiced) and their personal style and practice. Some may use the Dimensions of Wellness- which also vary based on the organization talking! Others use the Social Determinants of Health. I'll be talking through the lens of the latter today, which is beloved by social workers and many public health professionals!

The Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) are as follows: Economic Stability, Education Access and Quality, Health Care Access and Quality, Neighborhood and Built Environment, and Social and Community Context. Each of these affect an individual's health outcomes and society's health disparities. I will go on record to say that the impacts also show in their mental health status!

Further Break-Down of the elements of SDOH below:
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Economic Stability: Employment, Food Insecurity, Housing Instability, Poverty

Education Access and Quality: Early Childhood Development and Education, Enrollment in Higher Education, High School/Secondary School Graduation, Language and Literacy

Health Care Access and Quality: Access to Health Services, Access to Primary Care, Health Literacy

Neighborhood and Built Environment: Access to Foods That Support Healthy Dietary Patterns, Crime and Violence, Environmental Conditions, Quality of Housing

Social and Community Context: Civic Participation, Discrimination, Incarceration, Social Cohesion


Have you heard about the SDOH before? What about the Dimensions of Wellness? Is there anything not mentioned here that you think should be, because it impacts health and well-being?