Health Inequalities: Social Class

Question 1

Define social class

Answer 1

A large -scale grouping of people who share common economic resources, which strongly influence the type of lifestyle they are able to lead

Question 2

What is social stratification?

Answer 2

Describes how individuals have unequal access to resources and rewards

Question 3

What is meant by social capital?

Answer 3

Occupations that people know

Social contacts

Question 4

What are the benefits of social capital for health?

Answer 4

Facilitates effective co-ordinated action
Improves the local physical and socio environment and services
Improves other socio-economic circumstances of individuals
Provides social and psychological support to community members

Question 5

What is the relationship between social capital and physical health?

Answer 5

The lower levels of social trust were associated with higher rates of most major causes of death

Question 6

What was found as a result of J epidemol community health study in 2008?

Answer 6

Rate of AMI mortality increased with descreasing neighbourhood safety and cohesion

Question 7

What was the black report designed to do?

Answer 7

Examined differences in in health status, mortality and morbidity between social classes in Britain

Question 8

What were the findings of the Black Report 1980?

Answer 8

Higher mortality rates among babies and infants of "unskilled manual" parents compared with professional class parents. 
Higher mortality rates among early adults in class V compared with class 1.
A class gradient was observed for most causes of death and for chronic sickness and was particularly steep for diseases of the resp system 
Inequalities in preventive services by the working classes
Under provision of health services in working class areas and financial and physchological costs of attendance 
Extra usage of GP/hospital did not reflect the true differences in need for care- shown by mortality and morbidity figures

Question 9

What behavioural/cultural findings were found in the black report?

Answer 9

Higher rates of smoking among working class
More women of higher classes drink classes
people in lower socioeconomic groups eat less healthy

Question 10

What does the social selection theory suggest?

Answer 10

States that health determines social class and not vice versa

Question 11

What is the artefact theory?

Answer 11

Dismisses inequalities as a consequence of how concepts are measured

Question 12

What is meant by material explanations?

Answer 12

overcrowding /work accidents/ cigarette smoking - all related to social class - regarded by Black Report as a major cause of health inequalities

Question 13

What are social and mutli-causal explanations?

Answer 13

Major causes of health inequalities eg- poverty working conditions and deprivation

Question 14

What were the findings of the Acheson reports?

Answer 14

A widening gap in health inequalities between social groups

Early years are a particular important stage of life, where poor socio-economic circumstances have lasting effects

Question 15

What is a social gradient in health?

Answer 15

It explains how health worsens the lower the socioeconomic position and how this is spread across different socioeconomic groups
The social gradient of health is demonstrated by “Marmot’s Curve”

Question 16

Define absolute poverty

Answer 16

Refers to a fixed standard of living, rather than the rest population

Question 17

Define relative poverty

Answer 17

Compares each households income to the median income of the country

Question 18

Define child poverty

Answer 18

Household worklessness, income, material deprivation and educational attainment are used to measure child poverty

Question 19

What is meant by material deprivation?

Answer 19

When an individual is not able to afford certain possessions most people take for granted, or are unable to replace worn out items.

Question 20

What is meant by area deprivation?

Answer 20

May summarise an areas potential for health risk from eclogical conc of poverty, unemployment, economic disinvestment and social disorganisation

Question 21

What are the causes of poverty?

Answer 21

Unemployment and low-paid insecure work
Inadequate benefits
Lack of affordable housing
Association between demographic factors and poverty

Question 22

What is the impact of relative poverty on health?

Answer 22

Lower life expectnacy and premature death
Chronic conditions
Multimorbidity
Inability to afford prescriptions

Question 23

What did the whitehall studies highlight?

Answer 23

The impact of psycho-social stress for work and health and a socio-economic gradient in health

Question 24

What did the Whitehall I study confirm?

Answer 24

cardiovascular disease more likely in men of lower employment grades an

BP drops rapidly among higher civil servants at home

Question 25

What were the findings for the Whitehall II study?

Answer 25

Fine grain effect explianed by

• differences in levels of control and autonomy people had over their work
• monotomous work
• level of support recieved

Stress-imbalnace work demands
Social support-high effort - reward imbalance
Job insecurity

Question 26

What are the pyscho-social explanations for Health Inequalities?

Answer 26

Impact of stress of psychological system

Leading to a more adverse profile of behaviours such as smoking and XS drinking