Social issues and
health promotion
Factors effecting health

Socio-economic status

Genetic factors

Environmental

Lifestyle

Choose one of these titles and brainstorm how the factor influences
my ill health
Learning point one – identify
factors affecting health
Watch the video clip and make a
note of the factors affecting
Wayne and Waynetta’s health
(socio-economic, environmental,
genetic and lifestyle).
 What patterns of ill health are
being highlighted in this clip?
 For deeper thinking – how are such
lifestyle choices likely to influence
patterns of ill health? How can
change be encouraged?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f
b-f8CTafHs

Official Classification System for Social Class
1 Higher managerial and
professional occupations
1.1 Large employers and higher managerial
occupations e.g. Chief executives of major
organisations
1.2 Higher professional occupations e.g. doctors,
lawyers
2 Lower managerial and
professional occupations
e.g. Middle managers in big organisations,
department managers, teachers, physiotherapists
3 Intermediate occupations
e.g. clerks and bank workers
4 Small employers and own
account workers
e.g. painters & decorators or small manufacturing
company owners
5 Lower supervisory and
technical occupations
e.g. builders, joiners
6 Semi-routine occupations
e.g. unskilled labouring jobs
7 Routine occupations
e.g. assembly line workers
8 Never worked and long-term
unemployed
How can your social-economic status affect
your health?
Discuss at least two reasons for the
following:

Children in the lowest social class are five times
more likely to die from an accident than those in
the top social class.

Men suffer a higher rate of early mortality than
women, while women suffer higher rates of
morbidity.

The poorest people in England are over ten
times more likely to die in their fifties than richer
people, despite receiving similar health care.
For deeper thinking: How could socioeconomic
factors influence future patterns of ill health?
How can your environment affect
your health?
Discuss at least two reasons for the following:
•
In Manchester deaths from coronary heart disease, stroke, and
cancer are the second highest in England.
•
Road traffic accident (RTA) rates are higher in rural areas; in
2007, %69 of car crash fatalities took place on a rural road.
•
Childhood accident rates are highest in areas of high-density
housing.
For deeper thinking: How could environmental factors influence
future patterns of ill health?
How can your genes affect your
health?
Genetic disorders
Disease susceptibility
Sickle cell anaemia
Thalassaemia
Cystic Fibrosis
Diabetes
Obesity
Schizophrenia
Key influencing factor is the
presence of absence of a specific
gene or gene combination.
A single defective gene is not
necessarily enough to cause a
disorder.
The genes may act in a way to
predispose someone to the
condition however there are other
environmental/lifestyle factors
which may also come into play.
In pairs answer the following questions:
1)
Do you think life expectancy is shared equally across the population?
2)
Where could life expectancy be lower and why?
3)
Do you think death rates are higher amongst skilled or unskilled
workers? Why?
What is the difference?
An unskilled worker is someone in the construction trades who hasn’t had
any formal training.
A skilled worker would have a special skill, knowledge or ability in their
work. They may have attended college, university, technical school or
trained on the job.
Suggested answers – why is life
expectancy not shared equally across
population

Life expectancy could be lower in less affluent parts of the UK (North
of England and in Scotland) – knock on effect on housing, health
care etc.

There are less work opportunities in Northern parts of England and in
Scotland and people are on lower wages.

Higher rates of smoking, obesity and cancer in Northern parts of
England and in Scotland.
Suggested answers – death rates
higher amongst unskilled workers

Lower wages

May be pressured to work longer hours

No contract so potentially poor working conditions

Greater risk of harm occurring if no formal training has been carried
out

Greater risk of unemployment

Less job security – more stress
What the reports say

The Black Report (1980)

The Acheson Report (1998)

Our Healthier Nation (1999)

Tackling Health Inequalities: A Programme for Action’ (2003)

Choosing Health: Making Healthy Choices Easier (2004)
Learning point two – identify, summarise
and describe patterns of ill health in the
reports

Each of you will be given an extract from a Government
report.

Read the report and summarise 3 key patterns of ill health.

Suggest reasons for these patterns of ill health