Physicians Beliefs About Determinants of Health

Abstract

Introduction There has been little work thus far to evaluate the beliefs of medical professionals regarding their conceptualization of health determinants. This research discuses physicians’ beliefs about health and healthcare. Research Question What are the beliefs of current practicing physicians concerning health in the United States? Specifically, we ask doctors what they believe to be the contributing factors towards individual as well as community health, and what is needed to improve population health. Methods We conducted semi-structured interviews with 11 physicians of 4 different specialties. We used convenience sampling to recruit participants. We recorded and transcribed the interviews and carried out a thematic analysis. Findings Physicians believe that more robust social services are needed to improve access to basic needs. They believe medical systems in the United States are too focused on illness treatment. Moreover, they hold that preventive medicine cannot compensate for social and environmental factors affecting health. Conclusion Front line physicians interviewed in this study believe that social determinants of health (SDOH) are significant factors producing health outcomes for the population and the individual patients they treat. As physicians are respected and trusted authorities of health, expanding this research would be an important next step that could inform health and social policy in the U.S. on how to improve population health outcomes.