This essay will be exploring the link between health and a range of sociological factors and trying to determine if these factors have an impact on an individuals health. It will do this by examining the factors individually and exploring the evidence surrounding the relationship between the sociological factors and their health implications. Using this evidence, the essay will demonstrate that these sociological factors all directly affect a person’s health and therefor, must be addressed in order to ensure the continual good health of any patient, service user or client base. The concept of health is both familiar and yet elusive in the sense that its definition can range from vague to extremely technical. The World Health Organisation …show more content…
Access to higher education and the quality of the education received has obvious implications in job prospects but a study by Bachmann (Bachmann, et al., 2003) also illustrated that education can affect health indirectly in ways that are not always obvious. In this study, it was suggested that patients being treated for type 2 diabetes with a low level of education also had the lowest level of use for the services available and also had a higher mortality rate than those with a higher level of education. This is interesting as education level is not overtly connected to physical health and yet seems to have impacted on the patient’s health. Education is also directly linked to socio-economic status and this has been found to be one of the most significant determinants of health and mortality rates (Department of Health and Social Security, …show more content…
We have also taken examples from my own observations and demonstrated that the inequalities observed are representative of the national picture regarding mental health care and treatment. In conclusion, to provide the best possible holistic care and to help eradicate the existing inequalities, health care professionals need to explore ways in which they can address individual factors such as cultural norms and poverty to find ways to reduce their negative impact. By focusing on individualised patient centred care, health care professionals can work within communities to change attitudes and empower patients to seek the help they need and ensure it is available to them when they do need it. By doing this, they can help people remain healthy so that they may fully enjoy their life without the constant threat of ill
Outlined within this essay are two sociological theories which have been investigated this will be in conjunction with a contemporary health issue. This then will be related to how the individual’s lifestyle and social class to give the reader a better understanding of this health issue.
When we consider the education of our children in the United States, we must consider their health as a significant issue as it can positively or negatively impact a student’s education. It has generally been acknowledged that there is a great disparity in our country in the area of health care. Healthy People2010, a published report put out by the Health and Human Services Division of the Unites States Government (2000) has included as part of its Goals for 2010, to eliminate health disparities among different segments of the population. According to this report, health differences occur depending on a persons gender, race or ethnicity, education or income, disability, rural locality, or sexual orientation. In this paper, I will mostly concentrate on racial and ethnic differences as well as socioeconomic differences. According to the Healthy People 2010 report, biological and genetic differences do not explain the health disparities experienced by non-White populations in the United States. Besides "complex interaction among genetic variations, environmental factors, and specific health behaviors," Health and Human Services says, "inequalities in income and education underlie many health disparities in the United States." Also, "population groups that suffer the worst health status are also those that have the highest poverty rates and least education." Health, United States (1998) reported that each increase of income or education increased the likelihood of being in good health. According to this report, those with less education tend to die younger than those with more education for all major causes of death including chronic diseases, communicable diseases and injuries. There are several factors that account for differences between socioeconomic and racial and ethnic groups. These factors include a lower sedentary life style, cigarette smoking and less likely to have health insurance coverage or receive preventive care among these groups.
Overtime, sociology has played an essential role in the aid of healthcare policies and procedures, along with playing a fundamental role in one’s understanding of health inequalities. This paper explores how sociology has played such a role in healthcare, whilst including discussions regarding the influence of social structures and inequalities in the health of an individual, their family and community, with the topic of health variations between social classes being the main focus of the discussion. A structured overview, review and evaluation of a specific health policy in the UK will also be provided within this paper. Sociology in healthcare. Sociology can be defined in a number of ways, due to its almost limitless scope (Denny, Earle,
Health according to the Constitution adopted by the International Health Conference held in New York in 1946 which led to the foundation of the World Health Organization (WHO) was defined as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (World Health Organization 2006, pp. 1-18) and it was observed a fundamental right of every human being to enjoy the highest attainable standard of health irrespective of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition (WHO, 2006). However Yurkovich and Lattergrass (2008) urged the impossibility of the existence of a universal definition of health as cultural context within which an individual is raised inevitably affects the person’s perceptions of health and wellness and as Spector (2003) advocated without careful observation of community and culture healthcare providers and the recipients would be like two separate groups trying to communicate in different languages. In these contexts, social messages, language, customs, and rituals serve as a form of social communication, which constitute an integral part of culture and as a result, affect treatment outcomes (Green, 2010; Naidoo and Wills eds., 2008). Conrad (1999) and Lawton (2003) (cited in Swami et al. 2009) pointed lay people perceived health and illness as something integrated into daily life, fuelling a shift from utterly bio-medical frameworks towards more holistic understandings of health and ill-health, but illness and healing according to Green (2010) and Cartwright (2010) are elaborated and socially constructed concepts and individuals acquire characteristics like capacity to represent the external world, think and communicate, explain their place in the...
Social determinants of health has been a large topic for many years and can have a positive and negative effect on individuals, families and communities. (World Health Organisation, 2009) The social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age, including the health system. These circumstances are shaped by the distribution of money, power and resources at global, national and local levels, which are themselves influenced by policy choices. Social determinants have many factors and in this essay education will be the main social determinant of health discussed and how this could have an impact on the physical and mental sides of health.
Disparities in cancer are caused by the complex interaction of low economic status, culture, and social injustice, with poverty playing the dominant role (Freeman, 2004). So I ask the question: Does socioeconomics impact a man’s prostate health?
...an, P., Egerter, S., & Williams, D. R. (2011). The social determinants of health: coming
This assignment will begin by giving a brief definition of health whilst presenting a discussion on the exploration of an individual in relation to making healthy choices. The purpose of this assignment is to look at the effects of making healthy choices and the implications that may occur. In addition, current social policies that relate to health and society, and the effects of smoking in pregnancy will also be discussed.
Socio-economic class or socio-economic status (SES) may refer to mixture of various factors such as poverty, occupation and environment. It is a way of measuring the standard and quality of life of individuals and families in society using social and economic factors that affect health and wellbeing ( Giddens and Sutton, 2013). Cockerham (2007 p75) argues: ‘Social class or socioeconomic status (SES) is the strongest predictor of health, disease causation and longevity in medical sociology.’ Research in the 1990s, (Drever and Whitehead, 1997) found out that people in higher SES are generally healthier, and live longer than those in lower SES.
Epub 2006 Jan. Pincus, T., Esther, R., DeWalt, D.A., & Callahan, L.F., (1998) Social conditions and self-management are more powerful determinants of health than access to care. Ann Intern Med., Inc. 1998 Sep 1;129(5):406-11. Vest, J.R., & Gamm, L.D., (2009)
Over the years, the social determinants of health (SDOH) have been receiving more attention due to its importance in determining peoples’ health access, health quality and health outcome. The social determinants of health have been described by various scholars as the situation or environmental condition in which people are born, or where they grow, live and work; unfortunately these conditions have continued to affect and determine people’s ability to access proper care.1-5 In other words, the SDOH continues to consciously and unconsciously influence people’s access to most opportunities in life including access to healthcare services both in developed and developing countries.2 This issues have continue to deteriorate in most developing countries increasing people’s susceptibility to multi-morbidity among different age groups, with a slight increase among the elderly.6
This also discusses health in relation to social institutions, for example family, employment and school. However, health can be defined in a number of ways, such as negative and positive. The negative is where health is perceived to be the absence of disease or abnormalities in the body. This is similar to the positive, where health focuses on the presence of certain attributes, rather than the absence of them. This is different from the World Health Organisation (WHO 2008) where health requires a person to be completely physically, mentally and socially well, but not just in the absence of disease and illness.
In today’s society it is broadly acknowledged that health issues are influenced by various social factors. Despite biological characteristics, the physical environment an individual lives in, and many more causes of health outcomes, education can deeply influence an individual 's well being. With that being said, education can shape many important factors in a person 's life, therefore it is the most important influence on health in the contemporary U.S.
...on, race, and political belief, economic or social condition. Improving the poor health of disadvantaged individuals and reducing health gaps is important but not enough to level up health through socioeconomic groups. The objective of tackling health inequalities can be changed to local needs and priorities of a community allowing wide-ranging partnerships of support to be organised. However it needs to be made clear that what can be done to help improve the life chances and health prospects of individuals living in poverty may not come close to bringing their health prospects closer to the average of the rest of the population or prevent the gap living on throughout the generations. Being clear about what is trying to be overcome and achieved needs upmost importance in the development and delivery of policies that will promote health equality across the population.
One of the main causes for the increase in life expectancy was the reduction of infant, childhood and elderly mortality. Another significant circumstance is that the NHS provides free medical care, regardless the patient’s financial condition. Logically, that would mean life expectancy would be similar between individuals of different social classes. However, several studies have linked socio-economical inequalities to patterns of disease in the UK. In this essay, the relationship between patterns of health inequality and social class will be assessed, as well its implications for health practitioners.