Theories Of Health

Question 1

Why are theories of health important?

Answer 1

Because they explain:
- how to maintain a healthy state or how to be healthy
- Illness causation
- Reflect core cultural values
They also offer a sense of control, help us to understand what is going on in our bodies and can provide context of meaning.

Question 2

What is the definition of the words illness, disease, and health according to Lundstrom at al (2019)?

Answer 2

The definition of the word illness disease and health can or may be interpreted in different ways where to have a disease and to feel ill or not necessarily comparable entities theoretically.

Question 3

Differentiate between personalistic and naturalistic theories of health and illness in anthropology.

Answer 3

Personalistic believes that there are negative consequences of a moral or spiritual nature and that ritual and symbolism are needed for recovery and health.

Naturalistic believe that there’s a harmony between the person and the environment and that there’s a balance needed for health. Individuals can use or follow the humoral system (a seasonal behavior where you diet and exercise according to the seasons). Ayurveda is also a therapeutic medicine that is used to cure illnesses in the naturalistic theory.

Question 4

What is the vitalist theory? Where did it come from?

Answer 4

So the vitalist theory came from Southeast Asia or China and it defines health as being in balance or harmony with nature; for treatment it rebalances your energy using acupuncture and yoga.

Question 5

True or false, according to personalistic theories of health illness may be linked to transgressions of a moral and spiritual nature.

Answer 5

True

Question 6

According to the naturalistic theories of disease causation, when will illness happen?

Answer 6

Illness or disease happens when the balance between or the harmony between the human being and her environment is upset.

Question 7

How is an illness of overheat treated in the naturalistic approach?

Answer 7

Illness of overheat is treated by applying cool compresses or giving cooling foods which is also known as a humoral system.

Question 8

When does illness occur in the vitalist theory?

Answer 8

Illness occurs when the state of flow or smooth flow of energy is disrupted.

Question 9

How is the body conceptualized in biomedicine or modern traditional medicine?

Answer 9

The body is conceptualized as a machine which assumes that diagnosis and treatment should be based on scientific data rather than employing therapeutic measures.

Question 10

What are some of the core theories of the biomedical model?

Answer 10

The germ theory of disease, the “body as a machine” and that diagnosis and treatment should be based on scientific data.

Question 11

Why is the biomedical model based on the germ theory of disease and not the miasma theory of disease?

Answer 11

The germ theory of disease considers that disease is caused by the spreading of a pathogenic substance while, the miasma theory of disease considers that disease is caused by toxic secretions of rotting vegetation or carcasses (dead bodies of animals).

Question 12

What is an example of symbolism that plays an important role in the healing process in biomedicine?

Answer 12

For example, taking a prescribed medication or surgical treatments that are performed in specialized settings using complex equipment.

Question 13

What is an example of how ritual plays an important role in the healing process in biomedicine?

Answer 13

The process of getting patients ready for surgery such as obtaining informed consent, getting a patient ready for surgery, and the complex stages of post-operative care are all a ritual or a patterned form of behavior.

Question 14

What are the advantages and the limitations of the biomedical model?

Answer 14

Advantages
The biomedical model is widely researched, it has modern drugs, surgery & medicine, it is effective in controlling medical crises, disease processes and infectious diseases like covid-19.

Limitations
It is very individualized, focuses on treating symptoms rather than the causes or focuses on diagnosis and treatment, no cure for aging, unexplained chronic health issues, the biomedical research has vested interest.

Question 15

According to Adam Melvin in the video on the biomedical model of health, what are the three downsides of this model?

Answer 15

Misdiagnosis because illnesses can look alike, narrow focus on health where they do not look at their lifestyle, and this approach is less personal.

Question 16

According to Adam Melvin in the video on the biomedical model of health, what is one upside of this model?

Answer 16

More patients can be treated effectively since there’s more information about biology at the cellular or molecular levels.

Question 17

What is the alternative therapies or complementary therapies theory of illness linked to?

Answer 17

This theory of illness is linked to an ancient philosophical system of homology where there’s a connection between the cosmic and the terrestrial, between the outer environment and the inner, between the external and internal body.

Question 18

True or false, all theories of health and illness serves to create a context of meaning within which the patient can make sense of his or her body experience. A meaningful context for illness usually does not reflect core cultural values and allows the patient to bring to order the chaotic world of serious illness and to regain some sense of control in a frightening situation.

Answer 18

Faults, a meaningful context for illness, usually reflect core cultural values.

Question 19

How does the biopsychosocial model differ from the biomedical model of health?

Answer 19

The biopsychosocial model of health addresses the limitations of the biomedical model of health, where it looks at the biological and psychosocial aspects of a person and is based on a general system theory not a naturalistic theory. It looks at the person in a whole and addresses the social determinants of health.

Question 20

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the biopsychosocial model of health?

Answer 20

Advantages
It can improve the relationship between the doctor and the patient
it’s a multidisciplinary approach
It can improve clinical outcomes and;
Leads to an understanding of how biological and psychosocial components of health and illness interact.

Limitations
It’s too vague; generic and inefficient in practice; there’s no methodological guidance and; it’s nomothetic?

Question 21

True or false, there is no contradiction between global health being both evidence-based and theory-oriented.

Answer 21

True

Question 22

According to Arthur Kleinman, what does global health lack and what is the result of this?

Answer 22

Global health theories that can generalize findings into durable intellectual frameworks that can be applied to distinctive health problems, different contexts and future scenarios. However, it has limited the education of practitioners and the emergence of an intellectually robust field.

Question 23

Why does Robert Merton believe that a social theory of global health is the unintended consequences of purposive or social action?

Answer 23

All social interventions do have unintended consequences some of which can be prevented while others cannot be predicted. So all photos of action needs to be vetted for any unintended consequences that might lead to the modification of programs or policies.

Question 24

What is an example of an unintended consequence of a social or purposive action?

Answer 24

1. The vaccination campaigns for smallpox eradication in India led to individual and community resistance to their later vaccination campaigns.
2. China’s one child per family population control policy created a sexual revolution.

Question 25

What did Berger and Luckmann mean when they theorized that the social construction of reality is a social theory of global health?

Answer 25

The things in the real world are made into social or cultural ideas, practices and things that are legitimized by people.

Question 26

What are examples of the social construction of reality?

Answer 26

1. The spread of the H1N1 influenza virus was made over into a socially threatening and culturally fearful swine flu epidemic.
2. Cancer is a dreaded disease in the US especially in the early 20th century.
3. There is a stigma created by the social construction of non-persons in China around mental illness.

Question 27

What social theory of global health is, a formerly authoritarian physician patient relationship becoming increasingly egalitarian (people are equal and deserve equal rights) due to changes in cultural expectations, an example of?

Answer 27

Moving away from authoritarian (strict rulership) to egalitarian or “everyone deserves equality” or fairer society is an example of a social construction of reality.

Question 28

True or false, medications take on a social life of their own via informal networks and social marketing. Why or why not?

Answer 28

True; medications taking on a social life of their own is a social construction of reality where people create a stigma around the credibility or viability or effectiveness of medication.

Question 29

How do global health problems and programs take on culturally distinctive significance in different local settings?

Answer 29

For example, abortion is a highly argumented or controversial topic in the USA but not in Japan while, brain death becomes a very heated argument in Japan but not in the US.

Question 30

What can you propose following or extending from the social theory of a social construction of reality?

Answer 30

That each local world such as villages, hospitals, network of practitioners or researchers, or a neighborhood, will realize the values that amount to a local moral context has an influence on the behavior of its members.

Question 31

What are the potentially useful implications for global health for the social theory that is, social suffering?

Answer 31

1. Socioeconomic and sociopolitical forces can cause disease.
2. Social institutions that are developed to help or respond to suffering can oftentimes make it worse.
3. The suffering of a disorder is not limited to the individual sufferer but can be extended to their family or social network.
4. The theory of social suffering collapses or connects the historical distinction between a health problem and a social problem by framing the conditions as both and ones that require health and social policies.

Question 32

Poverty stricken areas such as Urban slums broken families and areas where there is a high risk of violence also face cases of depression, suicide, PTSD, and the drug misuse. What social theory of health is this an example of?

Answer 32

This is an example of the theory of social suffering where, the condition of poverty, a social issue, is connected to health issues and therefore requires both health and social policies.

Question 33

Alzheimer’s disease which creates serious cognitive impairment in the patient also affects the caregivers, family, and social network where they experience loss and frustration. What social theory of health is this an example of?

Answer 33

This is an example of social suffering where the pain of a disorder extends from the individual sufferer to his or her’s social network

Question 34

Hospital-based medical errors, the failure of walk-in clinics are examples of what social theory of global health?

Answer 34

This is an example of social suffering where social institutions that are supposed to respond to or reduce suffering can oftentimes make it worse.

Question 35

When the structural violence of deep poverty creates the conditions for tuberculosis to flourish and for antibiotic resistance to develop, according to Arthur Kleinman, what social theory of global health does this point to?

Answer 35

This example points to the social theory of suffering where social economic and sociopolitical forces can sometimes cause diseases.

Question 36

What is the concept of biopower, a social theory of global health, according to Michel Foucault?

Answer 36

Biopower refers to the political governance and its effect on the controlling of bodies and populations.

Question 37

What social theory of health is the effort of a state to enumerate or establish the number of populations for the purposes of social control?

Answer 37

This is an example of biopower.

Question 38

When China introduced a population control policy that led to local police or soldiers requiring village women to post the dates of their menstrual cycles on the doors of their homes as a means of surveillance and birth control, what social theory of health does this point to?

Answer 38

Biopower

Question 39

The system of government for United Nations and its agencies as well as individual nation-states is an example of which social theory of global health ❓

Answer 39

These organizations, agencies and the nation-states usually govern via biopower

Question 40

What is the social ecological model of health?

Answer 40

It is a way of conceptualizing health broadly by understanding that health is affected by the interaction between an individual, group or community, and its physical, social, and political environments.