CLAFH Framework:
Social Determinants of Health

To more effectively understand how to eliminate health inequities, the Center for Latino Adolescent and Family Health at Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing has synthesized the existing research on social determinants of health (SDOH).

Our team identified eight key SDOH principles that should be considered when designing and implementing research, policies and programs to mitigate harmful SDOH:

1. SDOH are Underlying Causes of Health Inequities
2. SDOH Context Shapes Health Inequities
3. SDOH Contextual Disadvantage is Not Deterministic
4. SDOH Shapes Health Over the Life Course
5. SDOH Operate Through Biological Embedding
6. SDOH Operate Intergenerationally
7. SDOH Shapes Clustering and Synergies of Health Inequities
8. SDOH and Social Injustices Interact to Produce Health Inequities

Guided by these principles, we developed a new framework for mitigating harmful SDOH that serves as a roadmap for educators, practitioners, researchers, policymakers, and other stakeholders designing programs to mitigate harmful SDOH and bolster strength-based resilience factors that set communities up to thrive despite structural adversity.

Learn More

• Conceptualizing the Mechanisms of Social Determinants of Health: A Heuristic Framework to Inform Future Directions for Mitigation
• Application of a Heuristic Framework for Multilevel Interventions to Eliminate the Impact of Unjust Social Processes and Other Harmful Social Determinants of Health
• Nurse-led approaches to address social determinants of health and advance health equity: A new framework and its implications