Education as a Social Determinant of Health: Issues Facing Indigenous and Visible Minority Students in Postsecondary Education in Western Canada

Janki Shankar, Eugene Ip, Ernest Khalema, Jennifer Couture, Shawn Tan, Rosslynn T. Zulla and Gavin Lam
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Janki Shankar: Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary, 444 11044, 82 Avenue, Edmonton, AB T6G0T2, Canada
Eugene Ip: Department of Community Studies, Faculty of Health and Community Studies, NorQuest College, Edmonton, AB T5J 1L6, Canada
Ernest Khalema: School of Public Health, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 1C9, Canada
Jennifer Couture: Department of Sociology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada
Shawn Tan: Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary, 444 11044, 82 Avenue, Edmonton, AB T6G0T2, Canada
Rosslynn T. Zulla: School of Public Health, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 1C9, Canada
Gavin Lam: Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary, 444 11044, 82 Avenue, Edmonton, AB T6G0T2, Canada

IJERPH, 2013, vol. 10, issue 9, 1-22

Abstract: The level of educational attainment is increasingly being recognized as an important social determinant of health. While higher educational attainment can play a significant role in shaping employment opportunities, it can also increase the capacity for better decision making regarding one’s health, and provide scope for increasing social and personal resources that are vital for physical and mental health. In today’s highly globalized knowledge based society postsecondary education (PSE) is fast becoming a minimum requirement for securing employment that can afford young adults the economic, social and personal resources needed for better health. Canada ranks high among OECD countries in terms of advanced education, with 66% of Canadians having completed some form of postsecondary education. Yet youth from low income indigenous and visible minority (LIIVM) backgrounds continue to be poorly represented at PSE levels. The current study aimed to understand the reasons for this poor representation by examining the experiences of LIIVM students enrolled in a postsecondary program. Findings show that the challenges they faced during the course of their study had an adverse impact on their health and that improving representation of these students in PSE will require changes at many levels.

Keywords: low income minority youth; postsecondary education; social determinants of health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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