Ch. 12 Health and Illness Flashcards
What is health?
The state of complete physical mental and social well-being.
The Sociology of Health and Illness
Changes in medicine
Patterns of Health and Illness
The epidemiological transition
Four Phases
infections and parasitic epidemic
Accidents and Suicides
The most common causes of death
Sick role concept
Patterns of behaviour defined as appropriate for people who are sick.
Critique: Too much responsibility on the sick person.
Acute Illness
Illness of (limited duration) from which a person recovers or dies.
Chronic Illness
Applies to a (long-term) or permanent condition that may or may not be fatal.
Conflict Perspective
Looks at the political, economic, and social forces that affect health, health care, and patients.
Feminist Perspectives of health and illness
Linked to child-birth, menopause, PMS and contraception.
The medicalization of Womens Lives
Men dominated assessments and procedures.
Symbolic Interactionist Perspective
Focuses on the meaning of illness: how it is not only physical condition but socially constructed: ex. AIDS (stigmatized as being gay).
Age
As we age, our level of health decreases.
Senile Dementia
diseases such as Alzheimer’s, that involve a progressive impairment of judgement of memory.
