The Influence of Social Determinants on Health

Overview

Why are some groups healthier than others, and how do these differences emerge and persist over a lifetime? How do social policies on housing, transportation, and employment relate to health and health inequalities? 

This The Influence of Social Determinants on Health course offered by Coursera in partnership with University of Michigan will examine social, behavioral, economic, political, and structural factors that contribute to health inequalities, and suggest innovative ways to reduce disparities in health to achieve health equity.

You will learn how to:

• Use conceptual models to understand health disparities in the U.S. and internationally.

• Access and use high-quality data sources to present statistics that illustrate the social-environmental-health issues within a community.

• Identify the main sources of these disparities from a population science perspective, and use public health evidence to inform policy efforts to address these disparities.

• Conduct community health needs assessments and identify evidence-based interventions.

Applied Learning Project

Projects in each course within the specialization will focus on developing presentations that can be used to educate a wide variety of stakeholders (community, business, local government, healthcare, etc.) about the social determinants of health and their relationship to health in our communities to progress toward health equity.