Creative Determinants of Health

The Creative Determinants of Health Cards are a game, a manual, a meditation and a muse for understanding the Social Determinants of Health. The Cards are a result of combining the concept of Creative Intelligences, the way in which people create an understanding of the world around them, with the Social Determinants of Health.

They are not all-encompassing, yet they are comprehensive in covering each of the Social Determinants and in applying each Creative Intelligence. This means there’s something for everyone in these cards, whether your learning style is mathematically oriented, relationship-oriented, or bodily oriented; and for whatever your starting interest may be -- education, environment, housing, or transportation, there’s a Social Determinant topic for you. To find out more about these Social Determinants of Health follow this link: http://bit.ly/CDHforAiC

Some of the cards will read as pretty straightforward, and others will not be as clear. This is okay; the cards’ instructions shouldn’t be all straightforward for anyone! Engaging your imagination in interpreting the meaning of each card is part of the fun! While not all the cards might apply to your neighborhood or community, even that itself is an observation! If a card’s instruction doesn’t make sense or apply to your neighborhood or community, make a note of why and then adapt it or change it.

These cards are observation tools for a practice of Social Determinants of Health because they build on you, yourself, as the most powerful instrument of monitoring, measuring and researching your environment and surroundings and circumstances. These card instructions are meant to engage you in the joy of research.

Poster: To view, click on the image. To download a large printable 18” x 24” PDF file (81 MB), right-click here and choose "Save As"

Artists’ Statement

When we first learned of the Social Determinants of Health from Harvard School of Public Health Professor Ichiro Kawachi, we were taken by how radical yet obvious a framework it presented for understanding how health happens. Health happens in a social context because humans are social beings. This social context has a greater effect on health outcomes than our genetics and our access to the health care system. We remain healthy because of our social context; we access the health care system typically when we are ill. Influencing our social nature is the next great opportunity for health care, and it begins with each of us.

In schools of public health around the world, social epidemiology researchers and academics are uncovering the linkages between social, cultural, physical and economic factors and the health of individuals, families and communities. We began to search out how we might tackle the translation of Social Epidemiology into practice; we came across the notion of “agency” as a key determinant of one’s health outcomes. Agency, or the feeling of control over the social, physical and economic aspects of one’s life, is a key determinant of health. We were struck by the possibility for agency through engagement of creative intelligences, creative ways of being. Hence, the Creative Determinants of Health.

We apply the practices of Happenings, Situationist Internationale and Fluxus instruction art to everyday life. We build upon the learnings of community development; participatory action research; Kogengaku (Modernologio); and Paulo Freire. We seek out the component experiences of life and build from them towards a new understanding of how life and art are intertwined.