Test 1 Textbook Notes

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McMaster University *

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1AA3

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Medicine

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Jan 9, 2024

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docx

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Uploaded by aashna10200

Test 1 Textbook Notes Module 1 Chapter 1 Critical health studies (p. 3) An approach to health that involves questioning social and political practices and current norms and ideologies. Health sciences (p. 3) A collection of disciplines predominantly scientific in nature that support and constitute medicine. Health studies (p. 3) Studies concerned with health, illness, and medicine predominantly through social science sub-disciplines. - Health studies research uses primarily qualitative research methods as it is better suited to convey the complexity of human health - Asks how health/health care are socially + culturally constructed, what are underlying ideologies/powers, and what health challenges are people facing now + future - Health studies is very critical unlike other health research Qualitative (p. 4) Information that is difficult to assign a number to, using interviews, observations, and non-numerical data. Quantitative (p. 4) Relating to numbers and measurable phenomena. Quantitative analysis deals with statistics, measurements, and other numerical data. Wellbeing (p. 3) Meaningful state of life, more than just the absence of disease - basic needs fulfilled - Immediate experience: can arise in the moment Other Info: - Early ideas of WHO (World Health Organization) considered health as something particular in its own right- more than the absence of disease Critical stuff from study guide- leaving it here just incase: There are a number of key components of a critical approach. These include challenging social norms, questioning everyday social practices, advocating for marginalized populations and neglected issues, advocating for important health issues, integrating community partners in developing a programs and policies, and questioning evidence. STUDY QUESTIONS- answer on own : 1. What are key differences between health sciences and health studies? 2. What broad questions does health studies pose?

Chapter 2 Conceptual fields (p. 20) A method of studying a subject by incorporating the views of multiple disciplines. Critical perspectives (p. 21) A way of approaching an issue that addresses the effects of institutional norms, models of thinking, power dynamics, and social influences. Disciplinarity (p. 17) The notion that different disciplines have unique ways of addressing an issue or subject. Iatrogenic (p. 20) An illness that is caused by a medical examination or treatment. - Think of problems that can occur after pregnancy Interdisciplinarity (p. 23) A researcher draws on his or her personal knowledge of different disciplines. Multidisciplinarity (p. 22) Including many different disciplinary perspectives in a study or issue. Professional domains (p. 20) The knowledge and practice of specific trained professionals. - Organizational practices and relationships b/w professionals and their clients - Raising awareness of alternative models and practices of care or healing Transdisciplinarity (p. 24) An approach in which a researcher moves across various disciplines - Linked to the critical project of change - New fields of inquiry may arise- can lead to new understanding Other info: - No singular theoretical perspective or methodology can fully capture health’s complexity-draw upon insights from various disciplines - Each discipline’s approach to a particular issue may produce its own response or answer - Beyond academia, artistic contribution can be used to raise the limitation of a biomedical framework and can incorporate consumers and survivors to communicate their stories and advocate for change - eg. theatre groups have acted out their experiences of aging and age-related diagnosis, such as dementia - blogs, documentaries, songs, websites, films, - Health pyschology-percieve mind and body as inherently linked Conceptual fields: - Cultural studies - study ways ethnicity and cultural identification inform understandings of health/illness - Caring studies- focuses on questions of care across the life course - Analyzes the relationship b/w health care and the state, relations b/w formal and informal

care, family responsibilities, women’s care - Iatrogenic effects of care (ex medicalization of child birth), economic impacts of informal care, emotional dynamics of mothering and elder care - Social gerontology- social analysis of aging - Draws attention to social constructs and experiences of objective classifications such as frailty, dementia and healthy aging STUDY QUESTIONS: 1. What are the key differences among multi, trans and interdisciplinary research? 2. Why is it important to utilize collaborative research approaches when studying health? 3. What are the key challenges of conducting research across disciplines? 4. What benefits are produced from the collaboration b/w uni researchers and community members and organizations? Module 2 Chapter 3 Contested illness (p. 45) An illness with inexplicable or uncertain medical symptoms (not yet recognized as disease); eg. allergies, PTSD - Physicians are reluctant to deal w/ consented illness due to uncertainty - Their symptoms can be vague, difficult to diagnose, causes are unknown, complicated to manage or treat - Refusing to validate experiences of those w/ contested illness increases sufferers’ distress - Physicians may not even think their experience is a REAL illness Demedicalization (p.39) Conditions and behaviours understood to be medical problems are reconceptualized. - Mad movement frames those labelled mentally ill as different but gifted- demedicalization Healthism (p. 42) The idea that, through making proper lifestyle choices or being proactive, one can become healthier.

Labelling theory (p. 40) The concept that deviance is not an inherent quality, but a label given by society. Medical discourse (p. 37) Society’s conceptions of medical knowledge structures our thinking about health and illness - aka what we think is normal, abnormal, and who has expertise to define, diagnose, treat disease Medicalization (p. 39) The process by which conditions and behaviours come to be defined as medical problems. - Medicalization does not just happen w/out social actors doing something to bring about the understanding - Geneticization - growing interest in genetics on how we understand health and illness - Potential to dramatically increase the range of individuals caught up in the medicalization net-- targets those w/ problematic conditions AND those who are simply genetically predisposed to certain conditions b/c they have certain genes Paradigm (p. 37) Widely accepted explanation for understanding a given issue. - Kuhn challenged idea that science proceeds as a linear process of discovery The Sick Role (p. 46) Parson: How society views sick people and expects them to behave. - Releases individuals from normal demands and responsibilities in their lives - Individuals who are sick will seek out medical treatment and follow doctor’s recommendations - Glaser and Strauss against sick role (believe one’s experience of health is personal - lay constructions of health) Social constructionism (p. 35) The theory that knowledge, definitions, and social roles are not fixed but are a dynamic product of society. - Social constructionists ask what social factors lead to our understanding of health and illness and why they are defined as such. - Using this framework, it is thought that medical knowledge and professional dominance of physicians has shaped how we as a society view and determine who is sick and what constitutes health. - Radical constructionists take an agnostic stand Other: - narratives of health and illness have shifted from discovery of medical knowledge to socially constructed stories, which are based on how social practices facilitate or inhibit the success of various medical claims and discoveries. - Professional and lay perspectives of illness can also differ. For example, medical professionals view self-injury as a symptom of impulse control disorder; however, many self-injurers plan their behaviour as a way to cope. The subjective experiences of illness, from a patient perspective, allow social science researchers to understand the illness experience. - Biographical disruption leads to rethinking one’s life and self concept

STUDY QUESTIONS: 1. What factors are necessary for a condition or process to become medicalized? Who’s involved? 2. What are the key differences between medicalization and demedicalization? What do these differences say about society? Chapter 8 Allopathic (p. 142) A type of medicine that focuses on diagnosing an illness and treating it using remedies that counter its symptoms. Biomedicine (p. 138) A system of healing that views illness as a biological manifestation affecting the individual. Iatrogenesis (p. 148) Harm that results directly from medical treatment. - Think of problems that can occur after pregnancy - Society itself is now iatrogenic - Clinical iatrogenesis- physician-induced illness that directly results from medical practice - Social- society's growing dependency on medical care - Cultural-culture aims to escape pain- traditional morals and norms being replaced by biomedical concepts/practices Machine metaphor (p. 140) Assumes the body is a sum of components and parts; a machine made of individual mechanisms. - Biomedicine believes body is machine w/ different parts that work together BUT still have unique functions Mind–body dualism (p. 138) A theory that states that the mind and body as two separate, discrete entities that do not influence each other. - Biomedical model uses this idea Physical reductionism (p. 139) Analyzing a physical entity in terms of its smallest parts. - In biomedicine- World-breaking it down into molecules/atoms (researchers analyze this) - In contemporary medicine- focus more on understanding origins of disease Regimen and control (p. 141) Biomedicine believes all illnesses and diseases can be prevented through a closely monitored, controlled, and regimented healthy lifestyle. Secularization (p. 142) The process by which society has become detached from religious influence. - Allowed people to search for nonreligious causes of illness Social control (p. 146) A theory stating that medicine is in a position to make moral judgments and can correct or cure those who are deviant. Specific etiology (p. 140) Suggests that illnesses have an identifiable cause.

- Biomedicine believes every disease has own cause and origin Chapter summary: - Popular understandings of health, illness, and healing are shaped by the biomedical culture, often dismissing alternative health care practice - While healers have existed for thousands of years, biomedicine is unique in the ways it understands the world and generates medical knowledge - The separation of mind and body is a pivotal difference between newer biomedical and older or alternative medicines - Biomedicine relies on breaking down aspects of the human body into smaller parts to understand the origin of disease. Biomedicine also assumes every disease has its own cause, and the role of medical professionals is to treat the disease, not the person - Biomedical views often see the body as a machine; each part is essential and performs its own unique function - many other systems of healing emphasize the wholeness of the body - biomedicine includes the idea that diseases can be managed by control over one’s body and by following specific regimens - The basic tenets of biomedicine shape our views of health and illnesses and are embedded within our culture - Virtually all aspects of our lives and behaviour have been influenced by biomedicine- medicalization - Medicalization occurs on three levels : conceptually (adoption of medical vocab), institutionally (organizations begin to approach a problem as medical), and through interactions (providers/patients frame a problem as medical). - The number of recognized mental illnesses has risen dramatically in the past 60 years. Some critics suggest this is the result of the medical profession trying to gain more control over people’s lives and ignoring social factors influencing behaviour - Blindly accepting medical ideologies has, historically, contributed to unsafe medical practices and behaviours, particularly among marginalized individuals. The power of biomedicine has affected society as a whole - Doctors are established as the central authority for matters of health and have unparalleled power over patients’ bodies and treatment decisions. - Iatrogenesis describes the negative implications of medicalization. There are three levels of iatrogenesis proposed: clinical, social, and cultural. This theory describes how biomedicine has become a threat to health - Module 3 Chapter 10

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