The wider determinants of health and mental health in primary care

The determinants of health and public mental health frameworks define the factors that shape health, calling for more effective partnerships across organizations and levels of society to address those factors. A consensus exists that it is the combination of risk and protective factors rather than factors taken individually that determines the impact on mental health. A range of cost-effective interventions are described. Nurses and others can also be effective in treating episodes of common mental disorders. It is necessary to recognize the social determinants of health, and work towards a change in health-care and social systems, as well as in the education of doctors. The social determinants of health (SDOH) model posits that genetic endowment interacts with social and physical environments to determine individual biological and behavioural responses that are influenced by access to and quality of health-care services.