Why do you think concepts like Social Determinants of Health have not been used as much in the health care industry?

This Module 2 reflection asks why Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) have been underused in US health care — considering the prevailing medical model, anthro-cultural values, and the history of health services. Build the argument from those three lenses.

Key takeaways

• SDOH are the social/economic conditions shaping health, beyond clinical care.
• The dominant medical model focuses on treating disease, not upstream causes.
• US cultural values (individualism, self-reliance) shape how health is framed.
• The history of health services built a treatment-centered, market-based system.
• Tie all three to why SDOH were sidelined.

The prevailing medical model

Explain that US health care grew around a biomedical/medical model centered on diagnosing and treating individual disease — which directs money and attention to clinical care and technology rather than the social conditions (housing, income, education) that drive most health outcomes.

Anthro-cultural beliefs and values

Discuss how US values — individualism, self-reliance, and a tendency to frame health as a personal responsibility — make structural/social explanations less prominent, so SDOH get less traction.

History of health services

Connect to the history: a fragmented, market-based, treatment-oriented system with payment structures that reward procedures and visits, not prevention or social intervention — leaving little room or funding for SDOH work.

Synthesize

Bring the three together to explain the underuse, and note the recent shift toward valuing SDOH.

Format

Reference the page concepts (medical model, values, history) and cite sources.

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