About SDHI

Research Remit

SDHI's research remit is to address the social, economic and cultural factors underpinning the health of the public, health inequalities, access disparities and the abiding presence of preventable disease.

It will, for instance, explore:

• relationships between the environment, gender, social class, age, diet and health;
• the impact of poverty;
• the role of social capital and social exclusion in health inequalities and;
• cost/benefits of local, national and international initiatives to improve public health.

The Institute is also concerned to explore the nature of services set up to deal with health problems, and is particularly interested in how service design interacts with client need.

Training Remit

The genuinely inter-disciplinary environment of the SDHI will provide a unique setting for students interested in examining social health issues. The Institute's training remit will lead to the provision of postgraduate training courses, based upon the diverse mix of modules available in the two institutions.

Scottish Objectives

With its focus on the social aspects of health care and delivery, the SDHI will contribute to the improvement of Scotland's health in measurable ways.

This initiative comes at an especially appropriate time as health and health care have risen to the top of the Scottish Executive's agenda.

For example, in Scotland's Our National Health, A Plan for Action, A Plan for Change:

"Tackling inequalities in health is central to our commitment to social justice. The health gap between the rich and poor in Scotland is stark."

Key objectives of both the Scottish Executive and the UK Government include:

• improving the health of the population by extending years of healthy life
• closing the health gap between the better off and the worse off in society and
• improving the quality of the services provided by the health and social care system.

Despite considerable improvements in certain health outcomes across Scotland, it continues to suffer poor health compared to the rest of the UK and Western Europe.

Furthermore, considerable differences exist within Scotland, such that longevity and likelihood of various diseases vary with location. These are issues that will be of central concern to the SDHI.

International Research

Importantly, though, members of the SDHI will continue to be involved in international research, collaborating with other groups in the UK and abroad. As indicated by the high RAE ratings of departments involved, the Institute will help to ensure that research of the highest quality is applied to critical issues in Scotland, the UK and abroad.

Audience

Finally, while much of the work of the SDHI will have an academic focus, and will be targeted at peer-reviewed academic journals, we are determined to involve those outside academia in our research. Through engagement with the NHS, social care agencies, local government and other agencies and individuals 'on the ground', we aim to tailor our research to meet the needs of the health service and public in general.

We also plan to feed our results back to those who may rarely have an opportunity to access academic publications.