title: Fundamental Interventions: How Clinicians Can Address the Fundamental Causes of Disease.
abstract: In order to enhance the "structural competency" of medicine-the capability of clinicians to address social and institutional determinants of their patients' health-physicians need a theoretical lens to see how social conditions influence health and how they might address them. We consider one such theoretical lens, fundamental cause theory, and propose how it might contribute to a more structurally competent medical profession. We first describe fundamental cause theory and how it makes the social causes of disease and health visible. We then outline the sorts of "fundamental interventions" that physicians might make in order to address the fundamental causes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, Columbia University, 606 W. 122nd Street, New York, NY, 10027, USA. adamreich@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Adam D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Reich
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology and Psychiatry, New York University, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Helena B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Bruce G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Link
mesh_terms: D015438:Health Behavior; D006291:Health Policy; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D010819:Physician's Role; D011634:Public Health; D064890:Social Determinants of Health / Q000941:ethics*; D012936:Social Medicine / Q000941:ethics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
keywords: Fundamental cause theory; Fundamental interventions; Population health; Social determinants; Structural competency