Social Construction of Illness and Health Lifestyles

Question 1

Brief knowledge on the case of Lia Lee and what it means to have culture and public health clash

Answer 1

Culture and public health do not go hand in hand sometimes. Lia and elliptic seizures asnd this begs the question: Does she have epipesy that needs to be treated or is this Quag dab peg?-an good omen of the spiritual realm? (believed to be so by the Hmong people?)

Question 2

Define culture

Answer 2

A system of thoughts and behaviors shared by a group of people

Question 3

What are some things that culture dictates how we approach things?

Answer 3

Religion, gender roles, communication, orientation to space and time, family, etc.

Question 4

List example of a problem in communication

Answer 4

Differences in language. May require interpreter, etc. Also differences in non-verbal cues that can communicate meaning.

Question 5

List example of a problem in differences of the perception of orientation to space and time

Answer 5

• Is time fixed or fluid?
• Is the culture forward thinking or rooted in the past?
• What is the standard unit of time progressing?

Question 6

Define social organization

Answer 6

How different cultural groups determine rules of acceptable behaviors” family structure, gender roles, religion

Question 7

What is social construction?

Answer 7

-A conceptual frame work that emphasizes the cultural and historical aspects of phenomena widely thought to be exclusively natural
AND
-Examines how individuals and policy groups contribute to producing perceived social reality and knowledge

Question 8

Define disease

Answer 8

Pathological changes within the body which are expressed in various physical signs and symptoms.

Question 9

Define Illness

Answer 9

An individual’s subjective interpretation and response to these signs and symptoms.

Question 10

Name Elliot Friedson’s theory on the social construction of illness

Answer 10

“[W]hen a physician diagnoses a human’s condition as illness, he [sic] changes the man’s [sic] behavior by diagnosis; a social state is added to a biophysiological state by assigning the meaning of illness to disease. It is in this sense that the physicians creates illness . . . and that illness is . . . analytically and empirically distinct from mere disease”

Question 11

What are some examples of the social construction of illness from the reading?

Answer 11

• Abnormal versus normal
• Acceptable versus not acceptable
• Desirable versus not desirable

Question 12

Some on in the stigmatization of illness

Answer 12

• Culture determines which illnesses are stigmatized
• All illnesses are not the same
• Stigmatizations exist for social reasons

Question 13

Define contested illness

Answer 13

-Illnesses where sufferers claim to have a specific disease that many physicians do not recognize or acknowledge as distinctly medical
-Not associated with any known physical abnormality
-Yet patients say they are suffering from symptoms
Ex: fibromyalgia, Gulf War syndrome (GWS)

Question 14

What is involved in the social construction of medical knowledge?

Answer 14

• Medical knowledge can represent the interest groups of those in power
• Medical knowledge can support/reinforce inequalities

Question 15

Define medicalization

Answer 15

-Occurs when human problems or experiences become defined as medical problems, usually in terms of illnesses, diseases, or syndromes
-Medicalization encourages quick-fix medical solutions, rather than looking at deep-rooted social context
-Societal preference for clinical treatments vs. addressing underlying problems
-Implications on future of healthcare
-Medical knowledge shaped by commercial industries looking to promote medical products
Ex: Child birth, baldness, erectile dysfunction

Question 16

According to Moynihan, what are the five types of medicalization?

Answer 16

1. Ordinary processes or ailments as a medical problem
2. Mild symptoms
3. Personal or social problems
4. Possible risks presented as disease
5. Data used to maximize the problem

Question 17

What factors have the greatest impact on our health?

Answer 17

Healthcare
Individual behaviors
Social & environmental factors
Genetics

Question 18

What are some commonly investigated factors that affect health?

Answer 18

Alcohol use 
Smoking
Dietary habits
Exercise 
Drug abuse
Rest & relaxation

Question 19

What are some contributors to health disparity?

Answer 19

-Having no health insurance or inadequate insurance
-Racism and other “isms” that reduce opportunities or cause discrimination
-Inadequate transportation or childcare
-No time off from jobs to go
Cultural influences

Question 20

What are two ways to encourage health lifestyles from a public health perspective?

Answer 20

1. Health promotion

2. Disease prevention

Question 21

Define health promotion

Answer 21

-Combined educational, organizational, policy, financial, and environmental supports to reduce risk factors and promote healthy lifestyles

Question 22

What are some examples of health promotion?

Answer 22

• Assist individuals in their pursuit of specific behavior changes
• Identify healthy people who are engaged in risk behaviors
• Motivate people to change their actions
• Provide support that increases chance of success

Question 23

What are some health promotion factors?

Answer 23

-Educational support
Provides info about risk behaviors and consequences, helps facilitate learning
-Organizational support
Provide programs and services that encourage participation and set up systems of social support
Policy support
-Taxes that discourage negative behaviors
-Financial support
Provide monetary incentives to motivate change toward healthy behaviors
-Environmental support
Provide rules that govern behaviors and support behavior change

Question 24

What are the different levels of disease prevention?

Answer 24

Primary prevention
Reduce risk and avoid health problems before they start
Secondary prevention
Reduce impact of disease/injury that has already occurred
Tertiary prevention
Treatment/rehabilitation after an illness

Question 25

Info on social capital

Answer 25

Central premise: social networks have value & they allow the society to function

Key features of social capital:
Reciprocity
Trust
Cooperation

These features allow society to work together to produce goods/services not only for the individual but for the common good of society

Question 26

What is the first stage of the stages of change model

Answer 26

1. Precontemplation
The first step
Person has no intention to adopt change within the next 6 months
Person is unaware of their issues
Person is not ready
Person is not serious about change

Question 27

What is the second step of the change model

Answer 27

2. Contemplation
   Person acknowledges there is a problem and is thinking about making a change
   Intends to make changes within the next six months
   Weighing the pros and cons of change
   Person may be in this stage for a long period of time
   Person not committed to make a change

Question 28

What is the third step to the change model?

Answer 28

3. Preparation
   The third step
   Person is planning on making behavior change within the next month
   Person is not sure how to make changes and may doubt their abilities
   Person may begin a plan of action
   Person collects information
   “Testing the waters”

Question 29

What is the fourth step to the stages of change model?

Answer 29

4. Action
   Person is actually making the changes to modify their behaviors, environment, and experiences on a daily basis
   These changes have occurred within the last day to six months
   This phase includes a lot of time, energy, and recognition
   This person is achieving their goal

Question 30

What is the fifth step to the steps of changes model?

Answer 30

5. Maintenance
   Sustained change for 6 months or more
   The focus is to prevent relapse
   Maintain the progress that has occurred during the action stage
   Person is very confident that they will maintain the changes
   Avoid temptations and old/new triggers

Question 31

What is the sixth step of the steps of change model?

Answer 31

6. Relapse, doesn’t always happen
   In many cases a person may experience relapse
   Person may feel like a failure, resume old behaviors, feel like they are no good and experience disappointment
   This is an opportunity to regroup and continue to learn and grow from the experience

Question 32

Are healthy lifestyles practices a matter of individual health or is there more to the story?

Answer 32

There is more to the story. Life chanses are things that either empower or constrain to determine behavioral outcomes. For example, structure, class position, etc. Health lifestyles are characteristic of groups and classes

Question 33

What is the win-win situation when it comes to individual health?

Answer 33

Combine personal and collective responsibility
Underlying idea: individual choices must be made, but environment and genetics affect the content of choice
Need a combination of:
Personal behavior
Safe conditions
Environments that support healthy choices