Social Determinants of Health and Communicable Diseases Among Inmates
Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) can help understand the relationships among social, economic, and environmental factors and how such factors influence health outcomes and health inequities. In epidemiology, a population and a disease category of interest are inmates and communicable diseases. Inmates present a population living within high-population density and crowded social settings with limited resources. Prisons present high-risk settings for disease contractions and transmissions (Beaudry et al., 2020). Inmates have limited access to preventive and curative services; hence, focusing on them can help understand the factors for transmission and prevalence to strengthen management and preventive measures for communicable diseases in low-resource areas.
SDOHs can be applied as an epidemiological framework for studying inmates and communicable medicines:
Neighborhood & Built Environment
- Overcrowding and disease transmission (Beaudry et al., 2020)
- Poor ventilation in the prison room
- Poor drainage within prisons
- Neighborhood & Built Environment
- Limited access to open spaces
Health Education Access and Quality
- Low health literacy levels
- limited health education programs
- Diversity and language.
Healthcare Services Access
- Inequitable access to health services (McLeod et al., 2020)
- Understaffing
- Limited healthcare services
Economic Opportunities and Stability
- Low income
- Low employment rates
Social Status
- High rates of social discrimination
- High chances of social isolation
- Stigma
- High-risk social settings
The most appropriate approach to studying communicable diseases among inmates is use of a longitudinal cohort study. A longitudinal cohort study enables the researcher to follow up a group of individuals of a prolonged period of time repeatedly with a focus on the same variables. It also has a high retention rate for participants (Teague et al., 2018). Measures using this study design would include risk factors, disease prevalence, progression characteristics, accessibility of health services, and health education-related outcomes.
References
Beaudry, G., Zhong, S., Whiting, D., Javid, B., Frater, J., & Fazel, S. (2020). Managing outbreaks of highly contagious diseases in prisons: a systematic review. BMJ Global Health, 5(11), 3201. https://doi.org/10.1136/BMJGH-2020-003201
McLeod, K. E., Martin, R. E., Butler, A., Young, J. T., Southalan, L., Borschmann, R., Kinner, S. A., Sturup-Toft, S., Dirkzwager, A., Dolan, K., Acheampong, L. K., & Topp, S. M. (2020). Global Prison Health Care Governance and Health Equity: A Critical Lack of Evidence. American Journal of Public Health, 110(3), 303. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2019.305465
Teague, S., Youssef, G. J., Macdonald, J. A., Sciberras, E., Shatte, A., Fuller-Tyszkiewicz, M., Greenwood, C., McIntosh, J., Olsson, C. A., & Hutchinson, D. (2018). Retention strategies in longitudinal cohort studies: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Medical Research Methodology 2018 18:1, 18(1), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1186/S12874-018-0586-7
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Question 
Research has shown that culture is a differentiating factor in disease incidence/prevalence and health disparities and inequities. Epidemiology is very much a social practice. For this assignment, you are asked to dive deeply into complex epidemiologic and population health pertaining to culture and health. The aim of this assignment is for you to “think outside the box!” and utilize the social determinants of health (SDOH) as an epidemiological framework to explore.
Social Determinants of Health and Communicable Diseases Among Inmates
Without being too restrictive, here are some basic steps:
First, determine a category and population to investigate further.
You can use these examples or generate your own: COVID & Race; Mental Illness & Homeless; Gender & Suicide Rate; Inmates & Communicable Diseases; Cognitive Decline & the Elderly; Migrant Workers & Chemical/Pesticide-Related Disease; Race & Maternal Health; etc.
Provide a 3-5 sentence explanation about the relevancy of the chosen population
Second, either draft/upload a diagram or add text to the discussion board
List the 5 SDOHs as your headers (Education Access & Quality; Health Care & Quality; Neighborhood & Built Environment; Social & Community Context; Economic Stability), and then bullet critical information on your population/category under each header.
Third, if you were to study your chosen population, what would be the most appropriate study type, and what would you measure? (3-5 sentences, even if you chose a diagram)
Lastly, list your references and, when appropriate, cite them.