McMaster’s Division of eLearning Innovation is pleased to announce the launch of “The Social Determinants of Healthy Child Development”, an interactive e-module that outlines how kids’ environments may shape their pathways in life -- and how we can use this knowledge to intervene more effectively.

It’s not a secret that our environments affect our health, from in utero influences to families, schools, neighborhoods and beyond. We are also learning more and more about how experience of our environments gets “under the skin” to affect human biology and development. But how do we operationalize this knowledge?

The framework, examples and concepts outlined here were developed to help bring larger concepts of the social determinants of health into our 1:1 visits with kids and teenagers, to help understand the forces that shape their develop, to think about the pathways they are on and to help them get back on track when they are having trouble.

This module will be a work in progress, so please give us your feedback. Thanks!