Running head: THE SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL APPROACH 1

The Socio-Environmental Approach for Diabetes Control and Prevention

Student’s Name

Institution

Course
THE SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL APPROACH 2

The Socio-Environmental Approach for Diabetes Control and Prevention

The socio-environmental approach is crucial in understanding the development,

treatment, prevention and control of diseases such as diabetes. The model lays out a framework

that is used to implement policies and options in managing and preventing diabetes in any public

healthcare system. The primary objective of the socio-environmental or the ecological model is

to develop elaborate and clear parameters to be used by physicians and healthcare practitioners to

control a disease such as diabetes before it causes more harm to a larger population within the

public health system (Poon & Ogboe, 2021). The model is designed to work in four distinct

stages; individual, relationship. Community, and societal stages.

At the individual stage, the framework collects and analyses all individual elements such

as genetic, biological, and historical factors that increase the prevalence or likelihood of diabetes

in an individual. Aspects such as obesity and overweight, family history, lifestyle, ethnic

background, and impaired glucose tolerance in the body are evaluated (Whittemore et al., 2014).

The evaluation is carried out with the objective or developing prevention parameters to

encourage individual behaviours that will prevent unhealthy practices that increase the likelihood

of developing diabetes.

The second stage in the framework is relationship, meant to evaluate relationships the

individual has that are contributing to the development of diabetes. Relationships with family,

friends, peers, and colleagues in school or at the workplace are analysed at this stage (Poon &

Ogboe, 2021). Th objective is to understand the patterns of behaviors within there relationship

and then come up with strategies to ending relationships and associations that expose the

individual to diabetes-causing factors.

THE SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL APPROACH 3

The third stage is community, which evaluates the external factors an individual interacts

with apart from the primary factors. The factors include the workplace environment,

neighbourhood, and other social institutions such as schools and colleges (Poon & Ogboe, 2021).

The objective is to develop structural strategies and policies that eliminate diabetes-causing

factors within the community that interacts with the individual.

At the fourth stage, the framework evaluates societal factors that expose the individual to

diabetes-causing elements. Here, social, economic, political, and cultural factors are evaluated to

develop strategies that inform and educate the public about their health and the importance of

avoiding factors that cause diabetes.

THE SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL APPROACH 4

References

Poon, I. O., & Ogboe, C. W. (2021). Applying the Social-Ecological Approach to Evaluate

Diabetes Medication Management in Older People. The Senior Care Pharmacist, 36(11),

548–555. https://doi.org/10.4140/tcp.n.2021.548

Whittemore, R., Melkus, G. D., & Grey, M. (2014). Applying the Social Ecological Theory to

Type 2 Diabetes Prevention and Management. Journal of Community Health Nursing,

21(2), 87–99. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327655jchn2102_03