It is a paradox of recent epidemiology that as material inequalities grow, so the pursuit of non-material explanations for health outcomes proliferates. At one level, a greater recognition of psycho-social factors has deepened the understanding of the societal determinants of health, the links between mental and physical health and the social nature of human need. Too often however, psycho-social factors are abstracted from the material realities of people’s lives and function as an alternative to addressing questions of economic power and privilege and their relationship to the distribution of health. The growing influence of salutogenesis and asset-based approaches is one example of this trend. This paper reflects on the theories of public health that lie behind the discourse of assets, together with some of the reasons for, and consequences of, its popularity and influence, notably in Scotland.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09581596.2012.748882#.UlB6wdKsjTo
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Get a free copy of Social Determinants of Health: The Canadian Facts at http://thecanadianfacts.org
See what Jack Layton had to say about my books!
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/04/10/cv-election-ndp-layton-platform.html
at 27:20
Dennis Raphael, PhD
Professor of Health Policy and Management
Graduate Program Director, Health Policy and Equity
York University
4700 Keele Street
Room 418, HNES Building
Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3
416-736-2100, ext. 22134
email: [log in to unmask]
Website: http://jasper.yorku.ca/draphael
Of interest:
*NEW*
Tackling Health Inequalities: Lessons from International Experiences
Foreword by Alex Scott-Samuel
http://www.cspi.org/books/tackling_health_inequalities
Poverty in Canada, 2nd edition,
Forewords by Rob Ranier and Jack Layton
http://www.cspi.org/books/poverty_canada
About Canada: Health and Illness
http://tinyurl.com/2c2tm6l
Health Promotion and Quality of Life in Canada: Essential Readings
http://tinyurl.com/3C8zteu
Social Determinants of Health: Canadian Perspectives, 2nd edition,
Forewords by Carolyn Bennett and Roy Romanow
http://tinyurl.com/3fkbr8u
Staying Alive: Critical Perspectives on Health, Illness, and Health Care, 2nd edition
Foreword by Gary Teeple
http://tinyurl.com/4xlu4up
See a lecture! The Politics of Population Health.
http://msl.stream.yorku.ca/mediasite/viewer/?peid=ac604170-9ccc-4268-a1af-9a9e04b28e1d
Also, presentation at the University of Toronto on how Canada stacks up again other nations in providing citizens with economic and social security.
http://vimeo.com/33346501