Skip Global navigation and goto content

It's a New Day in Public Health.

The Florida Department of Health works to protect, promote, and improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county, and community efforts.

Skip MegaMenu and goto content
Megamenu requires javascript to be enabled in your browser.

The Life Course Theory

Contact the Maternal and Child Health Section

  •  850-245-4465
  •  

    Fax

    850-245-4047
  •  

    Mailing Address

    Maternal and Child Health Section 

    4052 Bald Cypress Way, Bin A13 

    Tallahassee, FL 32399-1721 

The Life Course Theory suggests that each life stage influences the next, and together the social, economic and physical environments in which we live have a profound influence on our health and the health of our community.

Mother with three little girls

 The Life Course Theory looks at health as an integrated continuum where biological, behavioral, psychological, social and environmental factors interact to shape health outcomes across the course of a person’s life. The adoption of the Life Course Theory into public health practice requires movement away from isolated efforts and encourages broader thinking about the factors impacting health. Instead of concentrating on one health disease or condition at a time, the Life Course Theory looks to social, economic and environmental factors as underlying causes of persistent inequalities in health.1

           Ecological Model of Health Across the Life Course

The LCIR Ecological Model

References:

1. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau. (2010). Rethinking MCH: The Life Course Model as an Organizing Framework. Retrieved from: http://www.hrsa.gov/ourstories/mchb75th/images/rethinkingmch.pdf