Training
The Sociology of Health
The proposed course could be arranged around the following 5 themes:
- Health beliefs and knowledge
- Inequalities and patterning of health and illness
- Professional and patient interaction
- Chronic illness and disability
- Evaluation and politics in health care
Health beliefs and knowledge
This theme would cover two of the basicissues confronting a sociological view of medicine, namely how laypeople conceptualise health and illness, and how far these views differfrom those of doctors and other experts.
Inequalities and patterning of health and illness
Here,the ideas that health and illness are not simply properties ofindividuals are examined. Cultural motifs of morality, responsibilityand causation, and the influence of social structures can be glimpsedthrough the study of people’s responses to the challenges of poorhealth, or attempts to maintain good health. Even notions of fate andchance are powerfully shaped by the cultures in which they exist.
Professional and patient interaction
Herewe examine the changing sociological perspectives of research, as theyconfront changes in health care organization and delivery
Chronic illness and disability
Thewidespread nature of chronic conditions and difficulties in medicaltreatment is examined here. As with mental illness, if medicine, wereable to offer cures, the social as well as personal significance ofthese disorders would be reduced. Their often intractable characterleads to problems of everyday living and to difficulties in lay andmedical management. Alongside living with pain and discomfort, makingsense of seriously disruptive symptoms frequently initiates a ‘searchfor meaning’ on the part of the patient, in an attempt to construct orreconstruct a sense of biographical continuity.
Evaluation and politics of health care
Herewe will provide examples of sociological perspectives on the evaluationand politics of health care. There is at present a great deal ofapplied ‘health services research’ being carried out which draws onsocial science perspectives.
21st May. 2010