Social Determinants Of Mental Health And Community Resilience

Abstract

In addition to biological and psychological factors that can affect mental health, other social determinants affect health throughout the life course. This journal investigates the effect of poverty, housing instability, and housing discrimination on depressive symptoms and reviews how community resilience and policy-guided interventions can lead to a decrease in mental health inequalities. Recent literature (2015-2026) was reviewed using full-text peer reviewed journal articles, research government reports, and International policy documents, to assess evidence and determine the effectiveness of evidence-based practice for enhancing mental wellbeing. The results showed high levels of psychological distress, depression scores, and lower levels of quality of life were significantly related to socioeconomic disadvantages and insecure housing and to discrimination experiences, both through direct and indirect social, economic and environmental pathways. Various community-based interventions such as social prescribing, peer support programmes, neighbourhood partnerships and integrated community mental health services have come to light as ones that can have a considerable impact on social resilience and social connections. In addition, policy interventions based on addressing social determinants of health have shown more success at mitigating long-term mental health inequities than other interventions that focus on treatment. The review concludes that working for mental health equity will involve a joined-up approach to; health, housing, education and employment and social welfare. To mitigate health inequalities and improve the mental wellbeing of populations, investing in enhancing evidence-based public policies, deepening the deployment of community resilience programs and fostering inter-disciplinary partnerships are crucial actions. Long-term effectiveness of policy interventions and community resilience strategies under various populations needs to be evaluated with continued research.