Health Inequalities Flashcards
Not the mean income but the ____ is the main determinant of population health.
‘extent of income division’
What is the Gini coefficient?
- statistical representation of nation’s income distribution
- lower coefficient = greater equality among people
- UK has a high coefficient
Proportionate universalism
- response to health inequalities
- focusing only on disadvantaged people will NOT solve inequality
- action has to be universal but with a scale and intensity proportional to the disadvantage
- fair distribution of wealth is important
The Black Report 1980
- response to health inequalities
1. material
2. artefact
3. cultural/behavioural
4. selection
The Acheson Report 1998
- health inequality response
1. income inequality should be reduced
2. high priority to health of families with children
What are the three theories of causation?
- psychosocial (STRESS)
- neo-material (INVESTMENT INTO PUBLIC)
- life-course
Explain life-course as a theory of causation
- combination of psychosocial and neo-material
- critical periods have a greater impact at certain points in life
- accumulation of hazards add up due to hard work in life
- interactions and pathways e.g. sexual abuse in childhood leads to poor partner choice later
Explain psychosocial as a theory of causation
- stress => inability to respond efficiently to body demands
- BP, cortisol level and inflammatory and neuro endocrine processes are affected
What are the 4 domains of public health?
- health protection (infectious disease, poison, chemicals, pollution, radiation etc.)
- improving health services
- improvements to health
- addressing wider determinants of health (seeing the bigger picture)
Ethical levels
- meta-ethics (exploring right, wrong, defining etc.)
- ethical theory (philosophical attempts to create ethical theories)
- applied ethics (ethical investigation)
Examples of ethical theory
- virtue
- categorical
- imperative
- utilitarianism
- 4 principles
Ethical arguments
- deductive (1 general theory -> all medical problems)
- inductive (using settled medical cases to generate theory)
- considering what we believe in
- ethical analogies __ vs __
6 Ethical fallacies
- Ad hominem (attacking a person rather than their argument)
- authority claims (dismissing a theory because authority has said so)
- begging the qs (ASSUMING initial point of argument)
- dissenters (just by pointing out people who disagree does no make the argument invalid)
- motherhood (inserting soft statements to disguise disputable ones)
- no true scotsman (by modifying the argument)
What are three diseases that must be reported to WHO?
- cholera
- yellow fever
- plague
What are 5 lifestyle factors promoting mortality?
- smoking
- obesity
- sedentary lifestyle
- excess alcohol
- poor diet
2 models for Sociology of health medicine
- structural determinants of illness
- biomedical model
What are the 5 structural determinants of health?
- social class
- material deprivation/poverty
- unemployment
- discrimination/ racism
- gender and health
Describe the biomedical model
- mind and body are treated separately
- body can be repaired
- privileges use of technological interventions
- neglects social and psychological dimensions of disease
When can you breach confidentiality?
- required by law (notifiable disease)
- patient consent
- public interest
Criteria for disclosure when breaching confidentiality
- anonymous if practical
- kept to necessary minimum
- meets current law
Health behaviour
- aimed at preventing disease
Illness behaviour
- seek remedy
Sick role behaviour
- getting well
Theories of behavioural change
- health belief model 1974
- transtheoretical model
