When Do We Know Enough to Recommend Action on the Social Determinants of Health?

Abstract The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Commission to Build a Healthier America was charged to identify strategies beyond medical care to address health disparities in the U.S. related to social and economic disadvantage. Based on insights gained while providing scientific support for the commis...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of preventive medicine 2011, Vol.40 (1), p.S58-S66
Main Authors: Braveman, Paula A., MD, MPH, Egerter, Susan A., PhD, Woolf, Steven H., MD, MPH, Marks, James S., MD, MPH
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Clinical standards
Evidence-Based Medicine - standards
Health
Health care
Health Policy
Health Status Disparities
Humans
Internal Medicine
Policy making
Public health
Social policy
Socioeconomic Factors
Sociology, Medical
United States
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Abstract The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Commission to Build a Healthier America was charged to identify strategies beyond medical care to address health disparities in the U.S. related to social and economic disadvantage. Based on insights gained while providing scientific support for the commission's efforts, this paper presents an overview of major issues that arise when assessing evidence to inform policies and programs to address the social determinants of health. While many of the insights are not new, they have not been widely assimilated within medicine and public health. They have particular relevance now, given growing awareness of the important health influences of social factors. The discussion presented here is intended to highlight key considerations for researchers who study social determinants of health and policymakers whose decisions are shaped by research findings. Policies should be based on the best available knowledge, derived from diverse sources and methods. An array of tools and guidelines is now available to guide the assessment of evidence on the social determinants of health, building on—and going beyond—principles first articulated in the “Evidence-Based Medicine” movement. The central thesis of the current paper is that the standards for evidence to guide social policies must be equally rigorous but also more comprehensive than those traditionally used to inform clinical interventions, because social policies must deal with upstream factors that affect health through complex causal pathways over potentially long time periods.
ISSN:0749-3797
1873-2607
DOI:10.1016/j.amepre.2010.09.026