Allostatic Load: Single Parents, Stress-Related Health Issues, And Social Care‪.‬

Variations in socioeconomic position that account for a population's overall health may be improved with comprehensive health care and health promotion aimed at individual lifestyle choices and behavior, but this will not equalize those health inequalities over the life course for everyone. The social work profession must invest in social care plans for populations and their stress-related health issues. To truly promote social care within and for a population of vulnerable individuals, social workers must advocate for plans that anticipate stress-related health issues and that precede--not follow--illness. It is essential to view a population, such as single parents, and its health not only with respect to physiologic responses, but also to encapsulate the social conditions and experiences from which these physiologic responses materialize (Allsworth, 2001). Single parents' lives are composed of social conditions and experiences that can culminate in states of chronic stress. To anticipate and meet single parents' health needs effectively with respect to chronic stress states, an ongoing holistic social care plan is essential. The construct of social care in the social work profession should incorporate the knowledge of a population health perspective (PHP) and the biological framework of allostatic load (AL) to better understand and ameliorate single parents' stress-related health issues. Social care with a focus on alleviating health risks and health conditions over the life course will promote social justice. This article entreats social work practitioners to experience a mental shift in the reconceptualization of social care that includes PHP and AL, try to enhance their understanding of the PHP theoretical and AL biological frameworks, and stimulate further inquiry and investigation of these frameworks.