Sociological Perspective on Health for Medicine -myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theSociological Perspective on Health for Medicine. Answer: The Sociology of Health and Medicine in Australia started in early 20th century and it was regarded as the formative years because the independent departments of sociology were not being established in Australia until 1950s. The earliest form of sociology emerged within other departments of Australia, Workers Educational Association (WEA). The year between 1950s and 1960s experienced inter-disciplinarity and collaboration. This year also experienced an emergence of Australian Journal of Social Issues (1961) and Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology (1965). The year of late 1960s and1970s experienced intensification and organisation. This period saw the development of Melbourne based Medical Sociology Group. The year of 1980s lead to the establishment of institutional growth and specialization. During 1990s there occurred consolidation among fragmentation. Finally in between 2000 to 2010 is a special decade in sociology which leads to the internationalisation (Collyer, 2011) . As per the social model of health, health in influenced by a number of factors including individual health perspectives, interpersonal health backup, organisation backdrop, social framework, political context and other economic factors. In Australia, marginalised people who fall under the bracket of the low socio-economic community have shorter life span as they die younger due to their poor health backup (Yuill, Crinson Duncan, 2010). Under complex social environment, health is considered as sensitive factor and a difficult scenario altogether that needs to be addressed urgently at multiple levels (Wilkinson Marmot, 2003). The hierarchy in health is based on several factors and these includes social status, income status, employment level, working condition, social support networks, gender, cultural background, development in early childhood, food security, the communication, housing and transport, food literacy, types of health services social exclusion and personal health practi ses. Complex interactions between these factors lead to a generation of dramatic difference in the health backup among the people or population who lies under different sociological environment. For example there are significant discrepancies in health among the indigenous and non-indigenous people in Australia. In comparison to the non-indigenous counterpart, indigenous people suffer a lot in health inequalities. There are more reported cases of indigenous children being hospitalised for infectious disease like pneumonia than that of on-indigenous people. Moreover, indigenous people encountered higher mortality rates among the non-indigenous children. Not only disease, indigenous children are more likely to get hospitalised due to physical assault (the incidence are encountered more among the girls than that of the boys). Indigenous people due to the lack of proper hygienic backup suffer from dental cavities in comparison to Australian average. In case of child birth, indigenous pe ople have higher incidence of still birth, low birth weight or premature birth. The main reason behind this birth related mortality among the indigenous children is higher incidence of single mother. These single mothers encounter higher consumption of alcohol and smoking leading to complications during pregnancy. On the other hand, the indigenous mothers who live in urban areas have lower rates of breastfeeding (Germov, 2005). This backdrop of poor health condition is an outcome of several complex social factors. Apart from social factors, there also several historical, economic and environmental factors like racism, depression, trauma, dispossession and internal generational trauma (Bowes Grace, 2014) which are responsible of severe health inequalities among indigenous people in Australia. According to Yuill, Crinson and Duncan, there six significant features based on the social models of health Health of an individual is either inhibited or enabled by social context. Although the choice of a people are dependent on their behaviour and internal psychological backup but social context of the people also influence their choice like gender, class and ethinicity. The body of a human being cannot be comprehensively defined by the biology, anatomy and physiology but the social and psychological consequences must also be taken into consideration. The possible outcome of health is not solely dependent on the disease prognosis and symptoms. The manner in which the scenario of health condition is being perceived and simultaneously experienced with respect to disease and illness vary from culture to culture and socio-economic backdrop. Biomedicine and medical science may be different sectors in health but are not unrelated; there exist an inherent integrity between the two concepts. There is a political connection in health. Significant political decision and process impact health and the well being on an individual and influence the social determinants in health. It is important to listen and vouch for the decisions, opinions of the people who are lying outside the healthcare domain in order to get a clear and unbiased view of the health domain. Sociological perspective in health care is based on three principle theories. The Functionalist Perspective vouches for effective medical care and good health. This concept considers these two factors essential for a functioning society. Bad health impairs person ability to perform their defined roles in the society and if a significant number of people in the society are unhealthy, the proper equilibrium in the society gets hampered as the stability suffers. This concept is extensively significant in case of premature death. Premature death prevents individuals from performing their social roles and thus provides poor return to the society in several domain including pregnancy, birth and childcare. Lack of proper medical care is also dysfunctional for a society as the residents of the society who are suffering from illness experience greater problems in becoming a healthy individual. On the other hand, people who are healthy are more likely to fall ill. Several expectations must be taken into consideration in order to consider a person to consider legitimately sick. According to Parsons, these exceptions can be defined under the banner of sick role. First and foremost, a sick person should never be perceived to be responsible for their own health problem. If someone prefers high fat diet and simultaneously becomes obese or encounters a cardiac arrest, he or she gets less sympathy than the person who has observed a healthy diet regime throughout the life. On the other hand, if someone encounters an accident upon drunk driving, there is significantly less sympathy than the person who is sober and has been skidded off the road during a snowy weather. Secondly, sick people must have a psychological thought process or an urge to get well. If they lack that urge of getting well, they are perceived as faking their illness. Such people are also at times malign after becoming healthy. They are no longer considered to be ill by the people of in their family or more gene rally by the society itself. Thirdly sick people are people are considered to abide by the instructions given by the doctors in order to recover fast. If a sick person is found violating the instructions of the health care professionals then, he or she again looses the right of performing the sick role. If all these expectations are successfully met, sick people are treated well by their family, gets sympathy from the society and are exempted from the normal obligations of the healthy people. At times they are excused and are allowed to stay in bed when they want to remain active. In the middle of all these, physicians also have a significant role to perform. They are required to diagnose the reason behind patients illness, and then decide how to treat that illness and then simultaneously help the patient to recover. But in order to do so, they require Active Corporation from the patient and his or her family. A patient must cooperate with the doctor by answering his queries and the n follow-up with him as per his instructions. According to Parsons, there exist a hierarchy among the physician and patient, the physician gives orders and the patients abide by accordingly. Parsons has right described the importance of individuals good health for the society but his health perspectives have been criticised for several reasons. Firstly, his basic idea of sick role is generally applicable for the acute or short term illness than that of chronic or long term illness. Secondly, Parsons discussion ignores that the social background is also responsible for a persons well being. It also determines the probability of becoming ill and the quality of medical care that will be received by that ill person. Thirdly, Parson wrote in for the hierarchy existence among patient and doctors relationship. However several experts of today are of the opinion that the patients here must take initiatives to reduce this hierarchy via asking more questions about their present health conditi on to their physicians and via active participation in maintaining their health and wellness. The Conflict Approach emphasizes the existence of inequality in health and the heal care model as proposed by Weitz in the year 2013. There is a significant difference in the quality of health and health care round the world. The inequities prevalent among the social class, ethnicity, race and gender are reproduced in the backdrop of health of an individual and in the health care model. People who are residing in socially disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to become ill. Moreover, once they fall sick, inadequate care in the health domain make creates barrier in the path of speedy recover. The conflict approach also critically judge the efforts taken by the physicians over the past decades to control the medicinal practise and define prevalent social and medical problems. The good motivation of the physicians in delivering quality care is they are believed to be the most qualified personnel in the society having the best right to diagnose and treat a patient. The negative side is, they have also significantly recognised that their financial status will escalate if they start characterising the social dilemmas and medical problems and this monopolization of the treatment hit hard the health care domain. There are several examples that clearly illustrate this conflict theory. Personalised medicine is gradually becoming popular but on the other side, it is being critically judged by the medical establishment. Doctors at times may honestly fell that the use of personalised medicines or medical alternatives are inadequate, dangers and ineffective but on the other hand, they also know that application of these alternatives are financially important fr their medical practise. Girls or women who suffer from eating disorder receive active help from the physician, psychiatrist or other health care professionals. The care however is helpful but the definition of eating disorder provides a huge source of income for these medical professionals who treat this disorder and obscures its strong cultural roots within the societys standard definition of beautiful women (Whitehead Kurz, 2008). In the field of obstetrical care, towards the end of 19th century, physicians claimed that they are better persons to provide quality care to the pregnant women at the time of child delivery than that of the midwives. The conflict statement lies in the fact that the doctors might have honestly felt that the midwives are inadequately trained but on the other hand they also have fully recognised lucrative side of the obstetrical care (Whitehead Kurz, 2008). Hyperactive children and now treated with Ritalin =, hyperactive drug but previously these children are only considered as overly active. It can be sated that the definition of the active behaviour as a medical problem was indeed lucrative for the doctors and also for the company that has developed Ritalin (Conrad, 2008; Rao Seaton, 2010). According to the critique, the assessment of the conflict approach and simultaneous criticism of the doctors motivation is far too cynical. Scientific medicines are indeed helped in the improvement of the life expectancy of human race in the earth. However, physicians are also normal individuals who get motivated by economical consideration. Their hard efforts to stretch their scope into previous nonmedical areas can also generate from honest believe that the life of the mankind will improve if these efforts succeeded. The Symbolic Interaction Approach considers health and illness as the social constructions. It signifies that mental and physical conditions have no significance in objective reality. A person is considered healthy or ill if they are similarly acknowledged by the members of the society (Buckser, 2009; Lorber Moore, 2002). Like only after the invention of the drugs that the disease regarding hyperactive children becomes popular and is simultaneously recognised by the society. Obesity is now a health risk but according to the fat pride movement, participated by obese individuals stated that the health risk associated with obesity are exaggerated in order to call the attention of the societys discrimination against obese people (Diamond, 2011). Critics have found fault in the symbolic interaction approach because it has amplified that there is no objective reality behind any illness. There are several serious health conditions that exist among the human race and people are at risk of d eveloping such deadly diseases regardless of their social background or the society thinks about such diseases. In spite of having several faults in the symbolic interaction, the sociological approach states that the concept of health and illness do have a subjective correlation and objective reality between each other. Figure: Summary of the Sociological Perspective on Health and Health Care (Source: Sociological Perspectives on Health and Health Care, 2017) As per my knowledge, the theoretical perspective outlines in this chapter is based on their ability to deliver critical perspectives over the complex relationships between peoples experience over illness and their location in wider social structures. The biggest factor that I think will possibly impact on the healthcare practise is the inequalities in social position and the concept behind the institution of medicine. In spite of significant changes in the medical sociology model, there exist a distinct sociological hierarchy and commercial as well as statutory roles played by the medicines. As per my understanding, the medical sociology merits should depend in the understanding the enthusiasm of the scientific innovations in medicine and technology without getting dazzled by the salutary potential while keeping the sight of its proper implications in terms of equal social justice (Johnson, Dandeker Ashworth, 1984). References 13.1 Sociological Perspectives on Health and Health Care | Social Problems: Continuity and Change. (2017).Open.lib.umn.edu. Retrieved 9 October 2017, from https://open.lib.umn.edu/socialproblems/chapter/13-1-sociological-perspectives-on-health-and-health-care/ Bowes, J., Grace, R. (2014). 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