Ch. 12 Health and Illness Flashcards
What is health?
The state of complete physical mental and social well-being.
The Sociology of Health and Illness
Changes in medicine
Patterns of Health and Illness
The epidemiological transition
Four Phases
infections and parasitic epidemic
Accidents and Suicides
The most common causes of death
Sick role concept
Patterns of behaviour defined as appropriate for people who are sick.
Critique: Too much responsibility on the sick person.
Acute Illness
Illness of (limited duration) from which a person recovers or dies.
Chronic Illness
Applies to a (long-term) or permanent condition that may or may not be fatal.
Conflict Perspective
Looks at the political, economic, and social forces that affect health, health care, and patients.
Feminist Perspectives of health and illness
Linked to child-birth, menopause, PMS and contraception.
The medicalization of Womens Lives
Men dominated assessments and procedures.
Symbolic Interactionist Perspective
Focuses on the meaning of illness: how it is not only physical condition but socially constructed: ex. AIDS (stigmatized as being gay).
Age
As we age, our level of health decreases.
Senile Dementia
diseases such as Alzheimer’s, that involve a progressive impairment of judgement of memory.
Sex Patterns
Convergence or narrowing of the age/sex differences in life expectancy.
The factors of inequality in health for Indigenous Peoples
-Poverty
-Low quality of food
-Poor housing
-High rates of violence
-legacy of colonialism
Health Care in Canada
Universal Health Care: system in which all citizens receive medical services paid through taxation revenues.
Healthcare
The USA spends the most amount of money on healthcare but has the lowest life expectancy.
-Accessibility biggest issue
Health care in the USA
16 % of the population have no coverage at all.
