Spatial and Social Determinants of Health
Work in the Spatial Determinants Lab focuses on the study of health inequities in small places and small spaces. Despite decades of universal healthcare for many countries around the world, there still remain pronounced inequities in the social determinants of health and health outcomes. These systemic differences are manifest between social groups and across a range of factors such as income, education, and ethnicity. At the same time, health inequities are spatially evident, with differences between countries, regions, communities, and neighbourhoods. Understanding the relationship between social processes, geography, and human health is the focus of our Lab.
Our lab has a dedicated group of scholars working on a diverse range of projects. These projects have a focus on health inequalities with projects on access to health services, migration and health, environmental exposures and neurodevelopmental disorders, multiple cause mortality, and interactive data visualization. Students are using complex, confidential Statistics Canada micro data in the Carleton Research Data Centre and developing new quantitative methods in health geography. Past students have examined implementation of rural eHealth initiatives, or the barriers and facilitators for rural health internationally and in Canada’ North.
We support scholars at all stages in their academic careers – from undergraduate interns in their first or second years, directed studies projects, and senior honours theses – to graduate students in our Master’s in Health, Science, Technology, and Policy (HSTP), research-based Master’s of Science, and PhD programs. We also have several affiliated scholars from other departments and faculties on campus.
Research Updates
2 min read
Preprint: Cause-Related Mortality in Canada by Income Quintile
Place-Based Analysis to Understand Health Seeking Behavior
New Article: Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Psychiatric Traits and Diagnoses within a Community-based Sample of Children and Youth
New Article: Exploring the use of geographic methods to understand sexual- and gender-based violence: a scoping review
New Article | Health Service Implementation and Antifragile Characteristics: A Dirt Research Approach
