Social Determinants of Health

Social Determinants of health, to me, are the settings or contexts in which you live, work, or spend a lot of time in that affect your health directly or indirectly. These can affect your nervous system in several ways. One way is your cortisol levels. As you know, cortisol is the stress hormone and it can be heavily secreted due to certain living conditions such as an area where there is extreme violence. In addition, your hypothalamus, which is responsible for monitoring the secretion of hormones can become hyperactive if a specific hormone is in need of excess amounts. This is just one way in which the nervous system can be affected. On a completely different note, I am proud to be a student at UTHSC which addresses learning about these issues.

At my school, we partake in professional leadership activities through a variety of settings. One of these for me was to help work a prom for people with disabilities. Another setting that we dove into was the promotion of our program by getting out in the community and attending an after-school program to talk about OT and UTHSC to high-school students. Things like this help prepare you for numerous roles such as leadership and therapeutic relationships. In addition, by getting out in the community you build empathy for others. This is probably my favorite intake from the experience. These are vital aspects of a great healthcare provider, and I am blessed to be a part of this learning process.