Society and economics role in counseling
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Do you think educational differences, poor health (i.e., cardiovascular diseases), occupation, physical activity, household income and wealth, and social and environmental health have anything in common?
If it occurred to you that they’re all socioeconomic items, then you’re right. Whether we like it or not, our healthy lives are heavily affected by these socioeconomic factors, such as discrimination, unemployment, deaths, problems in investments and savings, and more. After all, these elements got their name because of their effects on social and economic and racial, and ethnic health behaviors.
Recent research on young adults has found that socioeconomic status SES has a significant impact on their well being, with findings that identify individuals with higher SES have access to more resources that support their overall health and well being.
Such social and economic factors can even work to influence others’ lifestyle factors and life expectancy. People in a certain nation who are born wealthy may have better health and greater access to quality educational and work opportunities compared to those with lower socioeconomic status.
They can also affect our annual rev public health behaviors and cause the development of social risk factors. Those with a stable income or are wealthy can commonly handle these social problems in a better way.
In this article, we’re focusing on how socioeconomic position can affect health counseling, according to national center/county health rankings. These factors have either a positive or a negative effect on health status, health policy, accessibility, and even the viability of counseling.
The following sections will extensively explain the relative risk and roles of socioeconomic status in counseling health behaviors.
The Viability Of Counseling
The first role of social and economic factors lies in how it affects the ability of counseling. Unfortunately, counseling is a viable option that still heavily measures the present social stigma in society, which is not for people with coronary heart disease.
In popular culture, you can still hear social characters referring to counselors as a “shrink.” This term presently has an endearing social connotation. However, it has a negative history. In the past, therapists and counselors were called “shrinks” as social slang for “headshrinker.”
Sadly, this social stigma continues today. Some adults still view population health problems in a negative light. Thus, some may be punishing and dismissive of seeking social treatments of relative importance like counseling. Those who aren’t negative remain indifferent.
Because of this social stigma, people who want to report socioeconomic inequalities and gain health promotion and avoid health inequalities often experience the following:
- Bullying or harassment
- Poor understanding of supposed social support systems
- Reduced access to educational and work opportunities
These usually happen in communities where the social class has a significantly higher prevalence of low socioeconomic status and poor health social behavior.
In the workplace setting, there are several social misconceptions impact about counseling, perpetuating the social stigma. In addition, some people may even avoid acknowledging their mental health problems as it can decrease their chances of employment.
Luckily, as with the term “shrink,” many in society are unlearning the past and are changing their mindset about counseling information. With proper education and these social supports, counseling can become a viable option for anyone’s rights.
Self Stigma: Actively Avoiding Treatment
But there is also such a thing called “self-stigma”. Self-stigma is when a person has an internalized negative social prejudice about their need for counseling. Instead of seeking the social help they need, they may instead actively avoid social treatment.
Self-stigma can also make someone feel like they aren’t going to get better. Combining this with the social reluctance to get social help can develop into a never-ending cycle of worsening symptoms. We don’t want to increase the mortality risk and be included in a national research council or a national longitudinal mortality study, right?
A person should have a positive and understanding social environment for counseling to be a sound option for someone. A positive social environment can then help shape individual minds, thus diminishing self-stigma.
The Accessibility To Counseling
Next, social and economic elements affect how accessible counseling is. Like many other healthcare services, social counseling and therapy require money. People seeking social counseling should at least have a stable financial income to pay for the social treatment.
Disadvantaged people in society, including those without a college degree and who have lower incomes, have less accessibility to counseling. One study estimates that only 15% of poor children in need of mental health and social services receive proper health care access. This may be because they live in rural areas and may have to travel long distances just to receive social treatment. Medical geography has dealt with the influence of socio–economic factors on human health for a fairly long time. They are also less likely to have social insurance premiums which hinder them from seeking even decent social treatment.
Financial Accessibility And Time Constraints
Aside from financial accessibility, time constraints are also imposed by these socioeconomic conditions. Lower educational attainment means that you are more likely to get a lower-income job. Their income may be insufficient to maintain their costs of living.
These disadvantaged people in society often work more hours or even juggle numerous jobs. The more hours they spend working, the less time they have to schedule an appointment with a counselor.
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The best way to solve this inaccessibility would be to address social barriers at their roots. Some useful steps include improving access to education and more humane job opportunities in society.
At the same time, social counseling should also be made more accessible to those in the lower occupational class population in society. Some governments have also launched social programs to make mental health services more accessible.
Counseling Outcomes
Socioeconomic status definitely affects counseling. Disadvantaged people also often experience a greater level of psychological distress. They might develop a relative risk of anger issues, cardiovascular disease, and higher body mass index because of their threatening environment. They may also feel more hopeless due to their perceived situations. These people in society often require more intensive counseling approaches due to the greater level of stress they initially experienced. Counseling can become inaccessible due to this.
Affecting A Person’s Compliance
Socioeconomic status can also affect a person’s compliance with counseling tasks. For example, a counselor may suggest taking time to meditate in a safe and quiet space. A disadvantaged person may not be able to achieve this simple task because of poor housing spaces.
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Some healthcare counselors may perceive this noncompliance as disobedience instead of a result of unfortunate healthcare circumstances and status. Counselors need to recognize the roles of these factors when treating their patients who have aging health, behavioral risk factors, socioeconomic differences, or self-reported health issues.
Our healthcare discussion only proves how socioeconomic differences or health inequalities — lower status vs higher status — affect public health outcomes in many ways, according to the health research from the likes of J Public Health soc behav, J Epidemiol Community Health, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Oxford University Press, or World Health Organization. Socioeconomic status at work may dictate how you view counseling. These inequalities revolving around health care can also instill self-stigma, preventing you from achieving a proper health status.
Some economic indicators like your income, education, environment, income inequality, and overall socioeconomic status and health outcomes can become hindrances to accessing the counseling you need. Your hectic work schedule can be a challenge when it comes to setting an appointment with a health care counselor. The lack of extra income or health care insurance strategies may prevent you from even booking a medical care consultation.
Lastly, your social environment plays a significant role in your health outcomes. Socioeconomic and racial differences can affect your motivation and the social support you receive. Your socioeconomic health outcomes standing can also affect how well you follow your counselor’s advice.
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All of these show that people are disadvantaged in terms of age groups, social status, reproductive and maternal health issues, poorer health, and other psychosocial factors and have an increased risk of not getting the medical care or improved social services that they need to avoid being nothing but a part of health statistics.
But we can all work together as members of one society to improve the percentage of this situation. By breaking the stigma, improving accessibility to community development and exploring legal services, and recognizing social determinants and policy implications’ limitations, counseling can become effective for anyone, no matter the standing or late-life health outcomes.
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