Hello! I didn’t realise how long it was since I last wrote a blog!

It is unbelievable to think that I am my cohort and I are just couple of months away from finishing our first year of nurse training! I thought I would share what I learnt in my last module.

The exploring Health Module involved looking at:

*The Determinants of Health

The determinants of Health are are factors that influence an individual’s health positively or negatively such as: age, sex, genetics, health behaviours and environmental and social factors. We also explored the social Determinants of health and looked at how we can achieve good health. Dalgren and Whitehead (1992) was our go to when discussing and learning about The Determinants of Health.

*Health Inequalities

We started by looking at the meaning of the term “health inequalities” and then looked at the difference between inequality and inequity.We then dived into what the potential causes of health inequalities were for example power, wealth and income. 🙂

*Public Health Priorities

We then began to look at the Public Health priorities within Scotland and Europe and began to link the learning by identifying how these public health priorities were working towards reducing health inequalities and improve local and global health.

*Early Years and Childhood Experiences

We then explored the importance of early years, the impact of adverse childhood events (Aces) and attachment on a child’s development and how this could impact their future and health. We covered areas of policy used to promote the wellbeing of all children in Scotland (e.g GIRFEC, SHANARRI).

*Health Literacy

Lastly we explored the meaning of Health literacy, the importance of it and how it can improve individuals health and how it can be applied in practice.

Assessment Time:

Our assessment involved writing a 1500 word essay. We were asked to relate all of this learning into one case study family within the Virtual community of Robdon.

I throughly enjoyed this module. I do have a real interest in the health of the public so it was great to get a good understanding of it. It was a well planned and structured module and it found it really easy to follow and understand. It has definitely given me a huge amount of knowledge to take onto the next steps of my nursing journey and areas to consider when in practice.