‘Social Determinants of Health’ is a module designed to provide you with a thorough grounding in the theories, conceptual frameworks and quantitative evidence on the proximal and distal social influences that impact on individual health and lead to population health inequalities. The objective is to engage and inspire you to acquire the depth of health literacy needed to make sense of the concept of health at individual and societal levels, and provide insight into how our social and economic circumstances get under our skin. More specifically, the module aims to introduce you to the core concepts of social epidemiology and public health including social, economic, and cultural determinants of health, but also to introduce you to conceptual frameworks that exist to explain the pathways between social factors and health outcomes, and public health policy implications.

By the end of the module, you will be able to:


	recognise the wider determinants of individual health and population health inequalities with examples drawn mainly from the UK, Europe, and the US
	
	
	use transferable academic skills acquired through the module, including essay writing, referencing, and presentation skills
	
This is an introductory core module for Year 1 students on the BSc Population Health Sciences programme. The module is also open to UCL elective students from other departments. Spaces are limited and places are allocated on a ‘first come first served’ basis on Portico.

The assessment for this module consists of three parts: two open book essays (1500 words each) counting for 45% of the overall mark and an oral presentation counting for 10% of the overall mark.

Students are given the opportunity to practice essay writing and presentation skills through formative (unmarked) assessments, for which individual feedback is given.

Module Leads: Dr Anja Heilmann and Prof Yvonne Kelly.

Selected Reading List 


	Social Epidemiology (2nd ed.) (2014) Berkman L F, Kawachi I and Glymour M M. New York: Oxford University Press.
	
	
	Social Determinants of Health (2006) Marmot M and Wilkinson R. Oxford: Oxford University Press.