This session will focus on income as a social determinant of health by integrating both lecture and activities. Inequities in the health of our communities consistently exist for people with lower incomes due to income as a contributing factor to health outcomes and as a factor inter-related to other social determinants of health. For health professionals to address health equity, it is critical to understand the connection between income and health, both through data and the root causes of these inequities, or the “why” of income inequity. Participants will learn about the systems that impact health inequities in both healthcare and the community and will be challenged to think through the systems in which they operate and work through a process to re-design these systems, connecting clinical interventions to community context and community interventions. We will look at the socioecological model for health and identify ways that participants can engage to shift inequities as professionals and as members of their own communities. Participants will leave feeling as though they are part of the solution to shift the status of health outcomes for people of lower incomes!
Objectives:
By the end of this presentation, participants will:
- Explain income as a social determinant of health;
- Understand the systems that impact income-based health inequities and how to re-design to support lower-income community members;
- Bridge healthcare interventions with community interventions to support whole-person health;
- Understand ways to engage to remove income inequities
