Transcript Chapter 4 Health and Illness This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law.

Chapter 4
Health and
Illness
This multimedia product and its contents are
protected under copyright law. The following
are prohibited by law:
•Any public performance or display, including
transmission of any image over a network;
•Preparation of any derivative work, including
the extraction, in whole or in part, of any
images;
•Any rental, lease or lending of the program.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Myth or Fact?
Women are
healthier than
men.
Myth
People in hunting and
gathering societies
probably had healthier
diets than most people in
the U.S. today.
Fact
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Medicalization
Defining or labeling behaviors and conditions as
medical problems.
Includes:


A new phenomena defined as a medical problem in
need of medical intervention such as post-traumatic
stress disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity
disorder.
Normal conditions that are defined as medical
problems such as childbirth, menopause, and death.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Biomedicalization
The view that medicine can not only
control particular conditions but also
transform bodies and lives.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Functionalist Perspective
Disease and illness threaten the survival of
society because sick people cannot
accomplish essential tasks.
The function of the health-care system is to
return people to normal social functioning.
The health care system becomes a problem
when it fails to return sick people to normal
social functioning.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Conflict Perspective
Health and health care are scarce
resources that interest groups compete
over.
The inequitable distribution of health
resources will reflect the overall
inequitable distribution of these resources
in society.
A problem results when some groups feel
that they are not receiving their fair share.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Interactionist Perspective
Illness involves a network of social
meanings and social expectations.
Health care can be considered a social
problem when it produces stigmatized or
devalued self-concepts among consumers
of health care.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Stigma
Any personal characteristic associated with
social disgrace, rejection, or discrediting.
Symbolic interactionists focus on stigmatizing
effects of being labeled “ill.”
Individuals with mental illnesses, drug
addictions, physical deformities and
impairments, and HIV and AIDS are prone to
being stigmatized.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Politics, Stigma and
the AIDS Epidemic
In the case of AIDS many factors came
together to produce a significant delay in the
attack on the disease.




Stigmatization of people with AIDS
Reagan administration’s policy of smaller
government and greater austerity in social and
health programs
Urban politics
Politics in the gay community
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Health & Societal
Development
Most diseases can be classified as acute
or chronic diseases
The most effective and least expensive
means of dealing with chronic disease is
preventive medicine.
However, modern medicine is organized
around curative medicine.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Classifying Countries
Three categories according to economic status:



Developed countries have relatively high gross
national income and have economies made up
of many different industries.
Developing countries have relatively low gross
national income and their economies are much
simpler.
Least developed countries are the poorest
countries of the world.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Life Expectancy
Average number of years individuals born
in a given year can expect to live.
Infant mortality - Number of deaths of liveborn infants under 1 year of age.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Top Three Causes of Death by
Age Group: United States, 2008
Age
(years)
1-4
First
Second
Third
Unintentional
injuries
Congenital/
chromosomal
abnormalities
Cancer
5-14
Unintentional
injuries
Cancer
Congenital/
chromosomal
abnormalities
15-24
Unintentional
injuries
Homicide
Suicide
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Top Three Causes of Death by
Age Group: United States, 2008
Age
(years)
First
Second
Third
25-44
Unintentional
injuries
Cancer
Heart disease
45-64
Cancer
Heart disease
Stroke
65 and
older
Heart disease
Cancer
Stroke
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Maternal Mortality Rates
A measure of deaths that result from
complications associated with pregnancy,
childbirth, and unsafe abortion.
Maternal mortality is the leading cause of death
and disability for women ages 15–49 in
developing countries.
The most common causes of maternal death are
hemorrhage, infection, and complications related
to unsafe abortion.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Childbirth Assistance and Lifetime
Chance of Maternal Mortality
% of Births Attended
by Skilled Personnel
Lifetime Chance of
Dying from
Maternal Mortality
Developed
countries
99
1 in 4,000
Developing
countries
57
1 in 61
Sub-Saharan
Africa
41
1 in 16
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Social Factors in Health
and Illness
Socioeconomic status

Those who are lower in income, educational
attainment, and occupational attainment have
substantially higher disease rates and death
rates than their affluent counterparts.
Gender

Women appear to be healthier than men,
especially if life expectancy is considered. But
women have more acute, non-life-threatening
illnesses. So reality is complicated on this issue.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Social Factors in Health
and Illness
Race

Some of the impact of race on health
has to do with discrimination.
Lifestyle factors

Industrialization has improved people’s
lives as well as created health hazards.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Nature of Mental Illness
The medical model

views mental disorders the same as physical disorders.
The mental illness as deviance model

focuses on the symptoms of mental illness that appear in a
person’s behavior based on shared social expectation.
The mental illness as problems of living model

sees mental illness as an expression of the fact that human
life is a continual struggle to decide how to live and relate to
others.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Mental Health
The successful performance of mental
function, resulting in productive activities,
fulfilling relationships with other people,
and the ability to adapt to change and to
cope with adversity.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Mental Illness
All mental disorders, which are health
conditions that are characterized by
alterations in thinking, mood, and/or
behavior associated with distress and/or
impaired functioning and that meet specific
criteria specified in The Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Impact of Mental Illness
Untreated mental disorders can lead to:







poor educational achievement
lost productivity
unsuccessful relationships
significant distress
violence and abuse
incarceration
poverty
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Extent of Mental Illness
On any given day 150,000 people with
severe mental illness are homeless, living
on the streets or in public shelters.
As many as 1 in 5 adults in U.S. prisons
and as many as 70% of youth incarcerated
in juvenile justice facilities are mentally ill.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Problems in Health Care
in the United States
Health care costs are rising due to






a growing demand for health care services
availability of diagnostic and treatment procedures
health care is a labor intensive industry
checks on cost are weaker than other fields
tendency to over-utilize services and even to perform
unnecessary procedures
increasing litigations and malpractice insurance cost
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Problems in Health Care
in the U.S.
Some people do not have access to medical
services that they need.
The quality of some medical services is low.
There is substantial gender inequality in
health care.
Health services have been privatized and
corporatized.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Bioethics:
Technology and Health
Bioethics refers to the study of ethical
questions that relate to the life and
biological well-being of people.
Major bioethical issues


the prolongation of life
the distribution of medical resources
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Whom shall we treat?
A number of principles serve as the basis of
medical allocation.





Ability to pay
Merit
Utilitarian
Compensatory justice
Egalitarian
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Future Prospects
Social policy debates include discussions of





publicly funded health insurance (Medicare,
Medicaid, national health insurance)
government mandated health insurance
the emergence of health maintenance
organizations (HMOs) and managed care
systems
new health care practitioner roles
changes in people’s lifestyles
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.