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Health and Social Care Level 3 - Unit 7 - M1
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M1 - Assess the biomedical and socio-medical models of health.In this assignment, I will be assessing the biomedical and socio-medical models of health. I will explain what each model
is, and the strengths and critcisms.
Biomedical model of health
This is an approach to health and illness that looks at health as the 'absence of disease' and focuses on diagnosing and
curing individuals from illness. This approach has controlled Western industrialised societes, especially afer the
industrial revoluton of the 19th century. The biomedical model established the policies and procedures of the Natonal
Health Service. This model believes that health is when there is no illness, and medical professionals are sometmes
necessary to ensure this. The whole point of the health system is to get rid of disease, and health care professionals use
scientfic methods and diagnosis to get rid of ill health. However, sociologists critcise this approach for focusing only on
the individual who is ill and needs a cure. Not a lot of atenton is given to environmental and social factors which could
have caused illness and disease. There are many possible causes of disease, but the biomedical approach only looks at
the patent. Furthermore, this approach is similar to the functonalist approach, as they both believe that illness is
dysfunctonal in society. An ill individual cannot make their contributon towards the smooth running of society.
According to functonalists, if someone takes on the sick role they cannot carry out their usual responsibilites within
society, and they take on new responsibilites such as working together with health professionals in order to get beter.
A strength of the biomedical model of health is that it uses scientfic methods. These are usually trusted by the public, as
they are based on factual informaton. Another strength is that it is led by health professionals who are educated and
have the necessary knowledge to achieve positve results. This is known as the top-down approach. However, a critcism
of the biomedical model of health is that it focuses on absence of disease rather than on promoton positve health.
They also focus more on curing disease rather than preventng it in the first place. Another critcism is that it is based on
the medical definiton of health where all bodily functons are working correctly, rather than the holistc view of health
which also considers emotonal or psychological health.
Socio-medical model of health
This is an approach to health and illness which looks at the environmental factors that have an impact on our health and
well-being. Specifically, the impact of poverty, poor housing, diet and polluton. It also looks at social factors, such as, life
expectancy, death rates, and infant mortality rates. Research shows that life expectancy went up, death rates went
down, and infant mortality rates also went down. This is mainly due to beter sanitaton, the availability of clean water,
and improved living standards. These changes occurred long before 1948, which was when the NHS was founded. The
evidence from this research shows that environmental and social factors have a huge impact on our health and well-
being, the reason for illness is not only within the individual. Furthermore, the socio-medical approach goes with the
conflict theorists than functonalists. Conflict theorists would say that the short life expectancy and higher rates of ill-
health among the poor, are caused by the inequalites in society and the life circumstances of the disadvantaged. They
would also say that the poor are more likely to have a bad diet and live in poor conditons, usually in inner-city areas
where unemployment and polluton have the largest efect. The most powerful members of society such as politcians
and industry owners are not willing to make the necessary changes to prevent the poor from getng ill as this would cost
money.
A strength of the socio-medical model of health is that it encourages people to live healthy lifestyles and also looks at
the causes of illness and diseases. This can improve a person's intellectual, spiritual, social, emotonal, mental and
physical health. Another strength is that it tries to improve the factors that cause illness and prevent them from
happening again. However, a critcism of the socio-medical model of health is that it does not look at the biological
causes of disease and illness. The cause of disease is not always environmental or social. Another critcism is that doesn’t
have a clear way of identfying or arranging health problems, and it cannot explain illnesses where there are no signs and
symptoms shown.
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