The Digital Determinants of Health Framework
The Digital Determinants of Health Framework builds on the Social Determinants of Health model developed by Dahlgren and Whitehead, which conceptualises health as shaped by layered social, economic and environmental influences. The framework extends this model to the digital age, illustrating how individual digital experiences are structured by platform systems and governance contexts.
Everyday online behaviours and exposures, including content consumption, emotional responses, coping strategies, digital literacy and time spent within digital environments.
Individual Digital Experiences
Peer networks, social norms, visibility economies, online conflict escalation, community reinforcement mechanisms and the social amplification of behaviours through likes, shares and trends.
Interpersonal & Community
Platform & Algorithmic Systems
Recommendation algorithms, interface design, datafication, moderation systems and commercial incentive structures that determine what content is amplified, repeated or suppressed.
Commercial & Governance Structures
National and international regulation, platform governance regimes, age-appropriate design standards, digital inclusion policy and global regulatory frameworks.
Why This Framework Matters
Focusing solely on individual behaviour obscures the systems that shape exposure and risk. Effective regulation and prevention require understanding - and acting on - these layered digital determinants.