ABSTRACT
This chapter explores a social justice perspective on the bio-psycho-social-spiritual dimensions of health and wellbeing. Social justice is a core value and guiding principle of social work, and striving for social justice is important to human health. Social justice involves questions over the socio-political organisation of society, including how and on what basis social resources are distributed, human rights, and people’s access to decision-making processes that impact on their health and their wellbeing. Social justice can give a meta-ethical purpose to social workers practising in health contexts, particularly to make improvements in the social determinants of health that shape different health outcomes across the population. This chapter discusses social justice in light of a holistic view of human health, by applying in a bio-psycho-social-spiritual conceptual framework. It explains the theoretical principles and practice implications that underpin social work thinking in relation to human health, understood as a biological, psychological, social and spiritual phenomena.
