How to Revise Health and Well-being — WJEC-CBAC A-Level Health & Social Care
Identify the main determinants of health. Explain how determinants influence health outcomes
Examiner Tips for Health and Well-being
- Use the language of the question, such as 'evaluate' or 'analyse', to structure your response and show higher-order thinking.
- Support every point with specific examples from health and social care practice, not just general statements.
- For extended writing, adopt a segmentation approach: discuss social, economic, environmental, and lifestyle determinants in separate but linked paragraphs.
- When tackling scenario-based questions, explicitly state the determinant, its mechanism of influence, and the resulting health outcome.
Common Mistakes in Health and Well-being
- Confusing correlation with causation when linking a determinant to a health outcome, without considering confounding variables.
- Focusing only on individual lifestyle factors while ignoring structural determinants like policy or poverty.
- Treating determinants as isolated rather than interconnected, failing to recognise the cumulative effect of multiple disadvantages.
- Overgeneralising the impact of a determinant without accounting for protective factors or resilience.
Key Marking Points
- Award credit for accurate identification and classification of determinants using recognised frameworks (e.g., Dahlgren and Whitehead's model).
- Look for explicit links made between specific determinants and measurable health outcomes (e.g., low income and higher rates of chronic illness).
- Credit should be given for demonstrating understanding of how determinants compound to create cycles of disadvantage.
- In coursework, evidence must include application to a chosen case study with clear, logical reasoning.