Essay
P2 Understand sociological approaches to health and social care
- Module
- A2 Unit F924 - Social trends
- Institution
- OCR
Unit 6 Sociological perspectives for health and social care. P2
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P2 Understand sociological approaches to health and social careConcepts of health
It is considered that individuals have a personal responsibility for their own health. It is thought that
people will make their own lifestyle choices which will then impact their health. This would mean
that people have free will and the ability to choose their lifestyle which in turn can impact health.
This would mean that people are responsible for making decisions which can impact their health. For
example, an individual will be able to choose their lifestyle. These actons will be informed, voluntary
and spontaneously. Lifestyle choices can include decisions about a healthy diet, exercise, smoking as
well as the intake of drugs and alcohol. Individuals will also be accountable for decision making
about their health as they will be responsible for keeping and making appointments, listening and
taking acton from professionals’ advice and using health and social care services efectvely.
However, it is argued that individuals will not always be responsible for their personal health as
there will be external factors that can infuence this. These factors can include cultural pressures
resultng in illness like anorexia, health inequalites (this could mean inadequate health and social
care services), genetc predispositon and someone’s mental capacity. This would mean that
individuals may not always have a choice or a personal responsibility to their own care. (Thirlaway K
2013).
The term health was classed by the World Health Organisaton in 1948. It was defned as “the
complete physical, mental and social well-being” and is the “absence of disease or infrmity.. Health
is the absence of illness and disease and refers to the physical, mental and social wellbeing of an
individuals. Health the living a future life that provides satsfacton and fulflment. Health is also the
ability to recover from illness so the body will be able to adapt to new health threats like other
illness and diseases. The absence of illness and disease can be due to good health which can be
dependable on a persons’ environment. Poor environment can result in poor health such as
respiratory issues due to damp living conditons. ome illness and disease can be hereditary so will
be infuenced by genetcs. Relatonships and educaton can also infuence health. The absence of
illness may also be due to a healthy diet, regular exercise, screening for illnesses and diseases as well
as the implementaton of care strategies such as the use of medicatons. Health is the overall state of
wellbeing. (Nordqvist C 2017).
The illness-wellness contnnnu (1975) is a concept and diagram that shows the relatonship and
connecton between the wellness paradigm and the treatment paradigm. It shows that there are
diferent degrees of illness and that wellness is a process that can move up and down along the
contnuum. It shows that good physical and mental health can contribute to a high level of wellness
and that choices and our decisions can help infuence life. The concept addresses the decreasing
state of a person’s health from the neutral point in the centre of the diagram. If health and wellness
was to decrease or worsen then (in a lef directon on the scale) it would contribute to a premature
death. This would result in acton that needed to be taken so would result in a treatment paradigm.
The treatment paradigm can bring an individual back to the neutral point through medicaton and
surgery if signs, symptoms and disability have been identfed. From the neutral point (in a right
directon on the contnuum) a person can reach a high level of wellness. This can be brought about
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