The Sociology of Health

Access to health professions Lecturer: Elspeth Cordell

Outcomes for this unit

• Sociology of Health criteria sheet • The assessment for this unit

Today’s lesson outcomes

• Define Biomedical and social definitions of health (C1)

• Discuss the differences (C1.1) • Evaluate with examples the definitions of

health and illness (C1.1)• By the end of the lesson we should have

addressed part 1 of the assignment

Getting you thinking task: When can a illness be labelled as a illness

• Answer the questions on the hand-out

Conclusion of activity

• Real evidence• Produces sympathy • Patient is believed

But what is ‘health’?Working towards Criteria 1 of assessment

Part 1 • What does ‘health’ mean?• Spend a couple of minutes writing your own

definition of health • After this , share with your neighbour Part 2

• We need to have a definition of health.• Why?

Public definitions of health

• Blaxter (1990)• 10,000 people• How they define health• 3 categories immerged•

3 definitions of health and illness

• Public definitions• Bio-medical model• The Social model

• T: Firstly Come up with your own definitions of ‘health’

1: positive definition

• Health defined as:• Being fit and able to undertake any reasonable

task

• Feelings are attached to this definition• How one ‘feels’

2- negative definition

• Health defined in terms of being free from pain and discomfort

• Absence of feeling hurt or feeling pain

3. Functional definition

• Healthy is defined in terms of being able to perform a range of tasks

• Objective view of health- mechanical

What influences these definitions?

• What factors could influence how we define health? for example cultural differences

1. Think of things that could influence how we define health

2. give an example

Example: Mental illness

• Is culture bound • evidence suggests that mental illness in one

culture may not be viewed as such in another (Fernando, 1991)

• Atypical behaviour?

Cultural differences

• Krause (1989)• Hindu and Sikh Punjabis

living in Bedford• Sinking heart• Physical chest pain • Illness caused by variety

of emotional experiences

• Public shame

Any other examples ?

So

• What is needed is an accepted definition of health and illness

The accepted definition..

• “A state of complete physical, social and mental wellbeing, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”

• WHO 1948

T: Anything wrong with this?

The up-to-date definition..

• “Health is seen as a resource for everyday life, not an object of living. It is a positive concept emphasising social and personal resources as well as physical capabilities. The extent to which an individual or (group of individuals) is able, on one hand to realise aspirations and satisfy needs, and on the other hand to change or cope with the environment.”

• Is this a better definition and why?

The biomedical model (C1.1)

• Worksheet task

End of lesson

• Check learning question to encapsulate MUST, SHOULD, COULD

• 1. When defining health firstly what do we have to consider, and secondly why is it important?

• Please hand this to me

THE SOCIOLOGY OF HEALTH Elspeth Cordell

Whilst setting up

• Read through your hand-out: Biomedical definition of health

• Explain why this definition is good for defining ‘health and illness’.

• Explain why this definition is not good for defining ‘health and illness’.

Last Lesson : working towards criteria 1.1

This lesson : fulfilling criteria 1.1

Next lesson : fulfilling criteria 2.1

Introduced the unit:

Must: • be able to provide a

definition of health • Began to define the

biomedical model of health

Must: • Define the biomedical

and social models of health

• Define disability

Define mental illness in a sociological context (Stretch &Challenge)

Must: define social realism and social constructionism

Should: explain with examples why a health can be hard to define

Should: explain these models with examples to support them

Should: discuss their views on mental health

Could: begin to evaluate different definitions of health

Could: evaluate the differences of these models

Could: Evaluate with evidence these two approaches in explaining mental illness

Conclusion of the Biomedical model in understanding health

• Illness is always based on an identifiable (physical or mental cause)

• Illnesses can be identified, classified and measured

• The cure usually lies in the physical body of the patient, not in their social relationships or their spiritual life

• There is an reliance on drugs or therapy

However (Assignment tip: information to start contrasting

the definitions!)

• This definition to understanding the concept of health is too simplistic

• Health is affected by wider influences than just the affect on the body or mind

• We should investigate the reasons why people get ill, instead of just concentrating on the body

The social model C1.1

• Newspaper article:• http://

www.news-medical.net/news/20141112/Study-Fast-food-outlets-in-inner-city-neighborhoods-linked-to-risk-of-diabetes-obesity.aspx

• Diagram and mini group task

Social model diagram

• Read the accompanied article to support you. Now have a go at filling in the for and against on the hand-out (Social model of health)

• Mini group task: • Finding your own

evidence for assessment

Lesson 3: Health

Lecturer: Elspeth Cordell

Last lesson This lesson Next lesson

Explored the social model of health

Must: • Define both

models• Define disability• Define mental

illness Should: provide examples to support both models Could: Compare and contrast the models

Evaluate mental illness in terms of social realism and social constructionism

Things that affect health (SM)

• Social class- (black report)handout • Ethnicity – handout • Gender• Age• Where you live- poverty vs affluent • Education

The social model of health

• Definitions of health is not solely based on physical and mental illnesses

• Should be based on social- economic factors: • Where you live, your job, your education, your

ethnic group, your sexuality….

Examples:

• Smoking: hand-out• Gender : Hand-out• Cervical cancer: • Singh et al 2012 hand-out • Mejia et al 2003 hand-out• Graph- social classes hand-out

• So if we address issues of poverty, we could improve the health!

Health models • Conclusion task : page 157 Q1-4

Disability

Implications of the models on disability

• Huge implications on disabled people (Moore et al 2001)

Disability- Criteria 1.1

• Assumed: someone has impediments that stops someone from operating normally…

• This assumes that: we have a clear definition of normal bodily functions and what the normal activities associated with this body part are!

• Oliver (1996) Disability is also a social construction not just physical one

• T: why do you think this is?• Because of research this as lead to WHO defining

disability…

WHO- 1998

• Distinguished between:• Impairment: refers to the abnormality of, or loss

of function of, a part of the body• Handicap: Refers to the physical limits imposed

by the loss of a function • Disability: refers to the socially imposed

restriction on people’s abilities to perform tasks as a result of the behaviour of people in society.

• T: Any exmaples for the Disability definition?

Evidence of the social model of disability: How the models view disability

• We treat disabled people differently in our world

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObMG6-3QXw

• How does the medical (Biomedical) model view the cause of disability?

• How does the social model view the cause of disability

Conclusion and assessment

What needs to be addressed in the assignment up to now:• Biomedical model- definition, examples for

and against• Social model- definition, example, and for and

against• Disability- defined (WHO) and viewed by the

models

Mental illness

• Getting you thinking task• Individual then group

Influences

• What influences our definitions of mental illness?

• For example-

Task: Find your own evidence

• Task to help = p171

Social constructionism

• Labelling theory