Report 10/2017
Psychosocial pathways and health outcomes: Informing action on health inequalities by Ruth Bell

Psychosocial pathways and health outcomes: Informing action on health inequalities

.pdfPsychosocial pathways and health outcomes
Summary

This report was prepared by Dr Ruth Bell at the UCL Institute of Health Equity for Public Health England..

Unequal distribution of the social determinants of health, such as education, housing and employment, drives inequalities in physical and mental health. There is also extensive evidence that ‘psychosocial’ factors, such as work stress, influence health and wellbeing.

This report highlights the current evidence that exists about the relationships between social determinants, psychosocial factors and health outcomes. It also provides a conceptual framework that focuses on the psychosocial pathways between factors associated with social, economic and environmental conditions, psychological and psychobiological processes, health behaviours and mental and physical health outcomes.