Chapter 4 - Health, Illness & Medicine

Question 1

What is “health” according to the World Health Organization?

Answer 1

Health is a state of complete physical, mental & social well-being. Not merely the absence of a disease, health is a resource for daily life.

Question 2

What are some measures of health?

Answer 2

Life expectancy, disease rates, HIV/AIDS rates.

Question 3

How is health socially constructed?

Answer 3

Health is not an objective fact, cultural patterns define health. Cultural definitions change over time of what health is. (Stigma around certain diseases e.g. HIV/AIDS, STIs) individual definitions depend on social situations.

Question 4

What is the sick role?

Answer 4

Patterns of behaviour defined as appropriate for people who are ill.

Rights:
- excused from normal social responsibilities
- not held responsible for being sick
Obligations:
- define being sick as undesirable
- seek & co-operate “competent health care”
Gatekeepers are doctors (or parents for children).

Question 5

What are the critiques of the sick role (Parsons) model?

Answer 5

It ignores several things:

• the stigmatization of diseases
• chronic or hidden conditions
• social location (cant afford to take sick role, don’t have access to healthcare, etc.)
• functional consequences of of illness (not always dysfunctional, can have unforeseen benefits)

Question 6

What is the difference between scientific medicine vs holistic medicine?

Answer 6

Scientific medicine: the social institution that focuses on fighting disease and improving health
Holistic medicine: an approach to health care that emphasizes the prevention illness and takes into account a person’s entire physical and social environment