Society And Health: An Introduction To Social Science For Health Professionals

Society and Health Society and Health: An introduction to social science for health professionals examines the ways in which sociocultural factors affect health care practice. Health care professionals do not simply supply the treatments that illness or injury demands. They must make informed decisions guided by economic, sociological and legislative constraints. The book also examines how external factors impact on individual health and attitudes to health care. For example, specific health issues can be easily linked to the home or work environment, whilst a patient/client decision about when, where and even if to seek treatment may be linked to considerations of finance or location. The contributors have drawn on their wide-ranging experience of teaching health professionals to demonstrate the scope and application of social science concepts and theories to health and health care. Part one provides the unfamiliar reader with a contextual framework for health and modern health care. Part two looks at people’s encounters with ill health and the interaction between patients/clients and the health services. The final part examines the National Health Service, its inception, development and position today, focusing specifically on the implications of recent policy changes. A social scientific approach encourages health professionals and those in training to take account of the sociocultural influences governing themselves, the institutions they represent and their patients. Thinking ii critically about these matters creates the potential for improving health and health care. Graham Moon has fifteen years’ experience as a teacher and researcher of health issues. He was involved in the integration of Nurse Education into the curriculum at the University of Portsmouth, where he is Professor of Health Services Research. Rosemary Gillespie was formerly a Senior Ward Sister and Nurse Teacher and is now Senior Lecturer at the University of Portsmouth. Society and Health An introduction to social science for health professionals Edited by Graham Moon and Rosemary Gillespie LONDON AND NEW YORK First published 1995 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 © 1995 Selection and editorial matter Graham Moon and Rosemary Gillespie; individual chapters the contributors Text design: Barker/Hilsdon All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book has been requested ISBN 0-203-99343-8 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-415-11021-1