Social Determinants of Health and Cancer Survivorship.
Steven S. Coughlin
Abstract
Statement of the problem Recent research supports the premise of studying social determinants of health in conjunction with cancer survivorship (Hastert TA, 2021). It is widely appreciated that the social context in which people live and work influences their health (Coughlin SS, 2019).The World Health Organization defined the social determinants of health as the “conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life” (WHO, 2014). In recent years, increasing efforts have been made in health care settings to screen for a broad array of social determinants of health including inadequate food and nutrition and inadequate housing, and to refer patients to community resources (e.g., food pantries, housing programs) (Garg A, 2013; Gottlieb LM, 2015; Bazemore AW, 2016; Page-Reeves J, 2016; Pinto AD, 2016; DeVoe JE, 2016; Billioux A, 2017; Cottrell EK, 2018; LaForge K, 2018). According to this perspective, quality health care includes the amelioration of the harmful health effects of a lack of basic needs, and health care settings are an appropriate environment for assessing and intervening on social needs (social determinants of health) (Garg A, 2013; Gottlieb LM, 2015; Bazemore AW, 2016; Page-Reeves J, 2016; Pinto AD, 2016; DeVoe JE, 2016; Billioux A, 2017; Cottrell EK, 2018).