‘Money, stress, jobs’: Residents’ perceptions of health-impairing factors in ‘poor’ neighbourhoods

Abstract

While the spatial distribution of health and disease is largely associated with individual-level indicators, neighbourhood-level factors appear to exert some independent and mediating influence on health-related processes. This study, conducted in four socio-economically disadvantaged sites in Australia and part of a larger project, analysed residents’ perceptions of neighbourhood factors that influence health. Responses identified four key categories of issues that varied across neighbourhood settings. Residents of high-rise towers were more likely than other residents to nominate proximal aspects of the neighbourhood as having a perceived negative influence on health. The findings support other research that suggests that local physical and social environments influence health via psychosocial processes.