SOCIAL POLICY BA
Health and society
Student Number-
328853.
How is illness socially constructed?
It is argued that the term illness is socially constructed. Illness holds a diverse range of connotations and there is no consensus over the meaning. It is important to understand its meanings and its implications on health and disease in order to look at it in its wider context in relation to health policy and service provision and society. It is also important for the difference between professionals and lay people's views of health to be analysed as they are so contrasting in conceptions.
It is important firstly to look at the varying notions of illness and conceptualise notions of illness i.e. what counts as a recognisable symptom, in order to be able to research it. Peoples self definitions of illness depend on their mental and physical state and the symptoms in which they define as illness.
Medical model of health
At present the British national and most other western countries health service provisional framework is based around the medical model of health, although it is argued that the social model of health i.e. health from a more holistic approach, is being increasingly being adopted. Curtis and Taket (1996), claim that the medical model of health is domineered by a scientific approach in which the body acts like a machine where by if broken needs to be repaired i.e. ill health leading to treatment. They go on to claim that the emphasis lies on the diagnosis of disease leading to ill health and look at the focus of the model on treatment rather then prevention. It is therefore vital to define the difference between disease and illness. Disease can be defined as "a medical conception of pathological abnormality which is indicative by a set of signs and symptoms." (Field 1976:176). "Illness refers primarily to an individuals experience of ill-health and is indicated by the persons feelings of pain, discomfort and the like" (Field 1976:334).This implies that disease is something that is diagnosed and treated by medical professionals, whereas patients can experience illness which cannot necessarily be diagnosed or treated by medical professionals. According to Curtis and Taket (1996) you can have illness without disease and vice versa, the concept of illness is therefore subjective and the concept of disease objective. It is at this point the difficulties are highlighted when attempting to operationalise illness. The concept can change in definition when looking at cultural variations and their cultural normative. Illness therefore does not necessarily always have links to the medical model of health and often includes a more multi dimensional aspect which is inclusive of psychological and social aspects.
According to Senior and Viveash (1998) the way in which an individual interprets illness has knock on effects on the way in which they behave. This is known as illness behaviour which effects weather or not an individual goes to the doctors. Weather or not an individual visits the doctor effects morbidity rates. It is often assumed that once an individual develops symptoms of illness they go to a doctor but prior too this, the individual has to access their physical, psychological and social state as a health problem. The influence of life experience is influential upon this. If one has been educated to make the link between particular conditions and indicative signs for example through family, friends and the media, this can effect how you interpret symptoms. The concept of illness can be looked at in terms of a tug of war between medical and social effects. Annandale (1998) states that unlike previously illness no longer almost always leads to death which means the individual has a time to make sense of and gain an understanding of their experience, and move on. Once an individual has moved on, illness related stories are compiled by the individual and are shared with their friends and family and knowledge is passed on, which all contribute to the social construction of illness. This affects how you perceive illness and how to deal with it when it arises. The validity of illness figures are questioned as the varying illness behaviours in each individual restrain a lot of illnesses from being reported by the individual. What one person may define as an illness another may not and therefore will not report to the doctor, whereas others may not. Morbidity figures are simply the illnesses that have been defined by the patient and subsequently the doctor. According to Senior and Viveash (1998) illness figures are therefore socially constructed out of a series of social processes which relate to the development of decisions that people make, depending on the illness behaviour and the definition of illness by that person and there doctor. There is often conflict between lay and professional views on what is defined as an illness. It can be argued that the professional's views of illness are dominated around the medical model of health whereas lay perspectives circle around more holistic views and general life experience. Senior and Viveash (1998) claim that the medical model of health assumes that bacteria causes illness, that illness is often defined as illness when a lay person reports it to a doctor implying that illness can only be defined by a doctor, and that illness can be diagnosed treated and further more cured. The medical model's positive aspects include the recognition of explanation for illness i.e. can create a link between illness and causes and preventative methods i.e. not smoking to reduce the risk of lung cancer, although this theory is not applicable to all illnesses. Those sociologists that study the social construction of illness claim that the medical model of health and illness although is domineering throughout most of the western cultures is not the only perspective. They look further more at the medical models success and see how it has developed and thrived in theory and its influence on the dominance of people's perceptions of health and illness.
Health and society
Student Number-
328853.
How is illness socially constructed?
It is argued that the term illness is socially constructed. Illness holds a diverse range of connotations and there is no consensus over the meaning. It is important to understand its meanings and its implications on health and disease in order to look at it in its wider context in relation to health policy and service provision and society. It is also important for the difference between professionals and lay people's views of health to be analysed as they are so contrasting in conceptions.
It is important firstly to look at the varying notions of illness and conceptualise notions of illness i.e. what counts as a recognisable symptom, in order to be able to research it. Peoples self definitions of illness depend on their mental and physical state and the symptoms in which they define as illness.
Medical model of health
At present the British national and most other western countries health service provisional framework is based around the medical model of health, although it is argued that the social model of health i.e. health from a more holistic approach, is being increasingly being adopted. Curtis and Taket (1996), claim that the medical model of health is domineered by a scientific approach in which the body acts like a machine where by if broken needs to be repaired i.e. ill health leading to treatment. They go on to claim that the emphasis lies on the diagnosis of disease leading to ill health and look at the focus of the model on treatment rather then prevention. It is therefore vital to define the difference between disease and illness. Disease can be defined as "a medical conception of pathological abnormality which is indicative by a set of signs and symptoms." (Field 1976:176). "Illness refers primarily to an individuals experience of ill-health and is indicated by the persons feelings of pain, discomfort and the like" (Field 1976:334).This implies that disease is something that is diagnosed and treated by medical professionals, whereas patients can experience illness which cannot necessarily be diagnosed or treated by medical professionals. According to Curtis and Taket (1996) you can have illness without disease and vice versa, the concept of illness is therefore subjective and the concept of disease objective. It is at this point the difficulties are highlighted when attempting to operationalise illness. The concept can change in definition when looking at cultural variations and their cultural normative. Illness therefore does not necessarily always have links to the medical model of health and often includes a more multi dimensional aspect which is inclusive of psychological and social aspects.
According to Senior and Viveash (1998) the way in which an individual interprets illness has knock on effects on the way in which they behave. This is known as illness behaviour which effects weather or not an individual goes to the doctors. Weather or not an individual visits the doctor effects morbidity rates. It is often assumed that once an individual develops symptoms of illness they go to a doctor but prior too this, the individual has to access their physical, psychological and social state as a health problem. The influence of life experience is influential upon this. If one has been educated to make the link between particular conditions and indicative signs for example through family, friends and the media, this can effect how you interpret symptoms. The concept of illness can be looked at in terms of a tug of war between medical and social effects. Annandale (1998) states that unlike previously illness no longer almost always leads to death which means the individual has a time to make sense of and gain an understanding of their experience, and move on. Once an individual has moved on, illness related stories are compiled by the individual and are shared with their friends and family and knowledge is passed on, which all contribute to the social construction of illness. This affects how you perceive illness and how to deal with it when it arises. The validity of illness figures are questioned as the varying illness behaviours in each individual restrain a lot of illnesses from being reported by the individual. What one person may define as an illness another may not and therefore will not report to the doctor, whereas others may not. Morbidity figures are simply the illnesses that have been defined by the patient and subsequently the doctor. According to Senior and Viveash (1998) illness figures are therefore socially constructed out of a series of social processes which relate to the development of decisions that people make, depending on the illness behaviour and the definition of illness by that person and there doctor. There is often conflict between lay and professional views on what is defined as an illness. It can be argued that the professional's views of illness are dominated around the medical model of health whereas lay perspectives circle around more holistic views and general life experience. Senior and Viveash (1998) claim that the medical model of health assumes that bacteria causes illness, that illness is often defined as illness when a lay person reports it to a doctor implying that illness can only be defined by a doctor, and that illness can be diagnosed treated and further more cured. The medical model's positive aspects include the recognition of explanation for illness i.e. can create a link between illness and causes and preventative methods i.e. not smoking to reduce the risk of lung cancer, although this theory is not applicable to all illnesses. Those sociologists that study the social construction of illness claim that the medical model of health and illness although is domineering throughout most of the western cultures is not the only perspective. They look further more at the medical models success and see how it has developed and thrived in theory and its influence on the dominance of people's perceptions of health and illness.