Case Assignment: Health and Society

Module 1 Case Assignment Health and Society
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Module 1 Case Assignment Health and Society
Social ecology offers a framework for comprehending how people and their social environments affect each other over their lifespan. Therefore, the society has a role to play in creating healthier communities (Salis, Cervero, Henderson, Kraft & Kerr, 2006). After conducting some research on this subject, I came across the video that clearly shows the impact that people can have on health in the society. This video shows how people in various American states have improved their communities using readily available materials.
In this video, the people in these communities use a tool referred to as Photovoice to document the barriers to active living and healthy eating in their communities. Additionally, one can see the effort of these to improve their neighborhoods. These people first create visual records of environmental conditions in their neighborhoods, identify opportunities for community changes, assist in setting priorities, and act as change advocates with policy makers, legislators and city officials (Kaiserpermanente).
One can also see that the people in these communities use Photovoice to try and eliminate gang violence and lack of sidewalks. The video also shows that they encourage eating healthy foods, instead of junk all the time (Photovoice, 2006). The video also shows that their efforts bare fruits since the city officials decided not to expand the roads; instead they put up sidewalks and crosswalks. This encourages people to walk and ride bikes, thus keeping them healthy. Finally, the changes are being seen at the end of the video where stores are shown stocking healthy foods.
After watching this video, I realized that the community can play a huge role in effecting better and healthier changes in their neighborhoods. They just need to take up the initiative. The use of photovoice is an excellent idea to begin with, and just like in the video, these photos can be presented to various leaders. Various active living activities can be highlighted in the pictures, such as dilapidated parks, lack of place to ride bikes and gang activities, and the leaders involved will get a clearer picture on how to improve these conditions (Photovoice, 2006). I believe the activities in the video show that the community can play a great role in improving their health since as the video states health does not only refer to lack of illness, but also living in a safe environment.
Ultimately, American citizens make their own physical activity and food decisions at individual (and family) level. However, in order for them to make better and healthy choices they need opportunities to purchase and eat healthy foods and participate in physical activity. Even though individual behavior change is important, a sustainable and truly effective improvement in the country’s health requires a multi-sector approach, which applies a social-e...