Housing as a Social Determinant of Healthpolicy Brief Prepared for the Middle Childhood Initiative of the National Children’s Alliance
Description:
Housing affects all aspects of one’s development. As a social determinant of health, housing impacts one’s ability to achieve optimum health potential in myriad ways. Indeed, the World Health Organization’s Commission on the Social Determinants of Health recognizes poor housing as one of the main determinants of health. Examining housing conditions of 6 - 12 year olds serves the broader family since children are not independent of a family in this age group. In fact, this brief will reference the family as a whole since it is the family that cares for children in the middle childhood range and the two are inseparable. This brief will explore the main components of housing as a social determinant of health.
Housing relates to our development in the middle childhood years especially since it becomes the main environment where kids will spend most of their time away from school. If the home environment is conducive to healthy development one might expect, for example, that kids will be able to sleep through the night with fewer interruptions. An uninterrupted sleep allows kids to focus more on day-to-day activities, especially school activities and thus increases learning opportunities. Furthermore, housing is tied to school learning since it is most often the home environment where children must have access to a quiet place to study and complete homework assignments. Middle childhood success in school sets the foundation for continued positive school outcomes such as educational success. Education is directly tied to health and is a health predictor since numerous reports tie education to positive health outcomes. In particular, for children in the 6-12 year old age range, being able to do well in school is important since it sets up school success at later stages leading to better ability to attain future success. The Healthy Children, Healthy Communities project commissioned a literature review of available research on the social determinants of health, which concluded, “schooling is important not only for the development of education and literacy, which are recognized as determinants of health, but for its important influence on socialization and developmental processes.The HC Literature Review cites Statistics Canada, which states that the “development of socialization skills and habits during the 10-14 year period has a definite impact on health, both during the school years and in later life."
Type of Resource:
Government Document
Publication Date:
2006
Location:
Ottawa