Understanding and Addressing the Social Determinants of Health in Prevention
Josh Esrick, MPP, and Emily Patton, MSc, PgDip

March 10, 2021, 1-2:30 PM EST

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The aspects of life that influence a person’s health, including their likelihood of engaging in risky behavior such as substance use, are numerous and varied. They range from very immediate, personal characteristics all the way up to overarching societal trends and conditions. The Social Determinants of Health are these larger social or environmental aspects that influence us, such as the economic status of the neighborhoods in which we live, our access to quality health care services, and the amount of discrimination we face. This webinar will introduce and discuss the social determinants of health in greater detail and explain which aspects have been found to be significantly linked to substance use. It will also discuss how we can follow a public health approach to prevention and how we can use environmental strategies to address them.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Explain what the social determinants of health are and how they relate to the socio-ecological model of prevention
• Discuss the social determinants of health linked to increased risk of substance use
• Overview of the public health approach to prevention and the role of environmental strategies
• Examine the research on examples of environmental strategies

PRESENTERS

Josh Esrick, MPP is a Senior Policy Analyst with Carnevale Associates. Josh has extensive experience in substance use prevention; researching, writing, and presenting on best practice and knowledge development publications, briefs, and reference guides; and developing and providing T/TA to numerous organizations. He developed numerous SAMHSA Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies’ (CAPT) products on strategies to prevent opioid misuse and overdose, risk and protective factors for substance use, youth substance use prevention strategies, youth substance use trends, emerging substance use trends, the potential regulations surrounding marijuana legalization, as well as numerous other topics.

Emily Patton, MSc, PgDip holds a Masters of Science in Abnormal and Clinical Psychology from Swansea University and a Postgraduate Degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Edinburgh. She offers significant professional experience in the fields of public policy development and analysis, criminal justice research, data collection and analysis, program development, and performance management.