As the Health Determinants Research Collaboration Cornwall (HDRC Cornwall for short), we have health determinants in our name. But it’s not a term a lot of people are familiar with! So what exactly are health determinants? And more importantly, why should we care?
Introducing health determinants
When most people think about what impacts a person’s health, they tend to think on the individual level. Things like how much someone exercises, whether they smoke, or their diet. And as a result they then tend to think of health as being solely the responsibility of individuals, doctors or hospitals. But a lot of factors that can have a massive impact on an individual’s health are outside their control. It’s these that we mean when we talk about wider health determinants. And to put it bluntly, these determinants mean that some people are dying earlier than they should.
There are many of these wider determinants of health. One example is quality of housing. Poor quality of housing can lead to a worsening of symptoms of long-term conditions. It could lead to poor air quality, resulting in potential lung problems. It could reduce opportunities for socialising, and cramped conditions can put pressure on relationships. All these can lead to chronic stress and poor mental health, which has a massive impact on someone’s overall health.
That’s just one factor. Other factors could include something as simple as whether there’s public transport! A lack of it could restrict someone’s ability to earn, socialise and access support such as medical appointments. A lack of available jobs could mean that someone can’t afford a good quality house, nutritious food, or even local travel – all of which could have a big impact on their health and wellbeing. Someone already negatively impacted by health determinants who then faces prejudice such as racism will be placed under even more chronic stress. And so on.
So you see these wider determinants of health cover some big issues – and they’re all interconnected. Think of them as building blocks in a wall, reliant on each other for structure and stability. If you dislodge one, the others soon crumble.
Why health determinants matter
Given their wide scope, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the idea of health determinants. Or to assume they’re someone else’s problem, or that they’ll go away on their own. But the truth is, they’re all our problem. We are all impacted by them in some way.
There is good news though - with a wide scope comes a lot of opportunities for change and improvement. By improving our understanding of what these health determinants are, we can take steps to act on and improve them. And this improvement could come from a wide range of sources – central and local government, community organisations, and charities could all play a part. Or to extend the building blocks analogy above; one brick layer alone might struggle to fix a crumbling wall, but many working together could make a real difference.
Health determinants in Cornwall
Here in Cornwall, there’s a five-and-a-half-year gap in life expectancy between those in the richest and poorest areas. That means there are people here dying five and a half years earlier than they should. So it’s important for us to understand what wider health determinants are at play here in Cornwall. (To use our brick wall analogy again; to fix a wall it’s important to understand everything affecting its stability. Just filling in the obvious cracks won’t do the job). And to understand this we need to do research.
That’s why we’re working with academic and community partners to embed research practises in Cornwall Council, and Cornwall as a whole. Through this research we can discover what is impacting people here in Cornwall. And more importantly, we can assess and put in place measures that make a positive difference.
Learn more about our partners, and how we can support research in Cornwall.