Sociology of health care aims to analyze the relationship that exists between the society and health. Therefore, through examining how different aspects of social life interact with health and wellness aspects such as mortality and morbidity, it is possible to determine the significance of societal issues to an individual’s health.Professional socialization in healthcare focuses on instilling the knowledge that biological and natural conditions are the major drivers of wellness. However, the socioeconomic status of an individual, culture, and beliefs have also been established as primary drivers of health. Therefore, this paper will incorporate terms such as professional socialization, illness behaviour, illness behaviour model, feeling norms, medical norms and occupation socialization to examine major global diseases and social aspects affecting them specific to identified regions around the world.
Religion and Health
Religion forms an important aspect of human social life and in several ways impacts the health or lack of health of an individual. Religion guides a person’s social life, including their feeling norms, beliefs and life principles. Religious sub-groups in Sub-Saharan Africa and cohorts actively participating in religious activities have reported less risk of contracting HIV/AIDS due to the strict guidelines stipulated by their religions. For instance, infidelity is a practice that is prohibited by most religions, and since it is among the top most factors affecting the spread of HIV/AIDS, staunch followers of religion are less likely to engage in infidelity thus exhibit a low risk of contracting the disease.
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Education and Health
Education plays a significant role in awareness and informing humans about health hazards, diseases, and healthcare. Therefore, based on the level of awareness about a given disease, chances of contraction of those illnesses, controlling them, and seeking effective treatment options are immensely influenced. Considering a condition such as HIV/AIDS, illiteracy and lack of awareness and education about the existence of the illness, prevention measures, treatment options, symptoms, and ways of transmission is likely to expose the involved society to high prevalence rates. According to the illness behavior model, awareness about an illness determines the treatment options taken by the affected individual (Rödlach, 2016). In Sub-Saharan Africa, some communities do not have awareness about HIV/AIDS, hence still believe in myths surrounding its manifestation: this results to more deaths and spread of HIV/AIDS.
Lifestyle and Health
An individual’s lifestyle is part of their social life, and this encompasses aspects such as drug use, alcoholism, physical training and exercise, nutrition, and eating habits. Obesity in the Pacific has been on a significant rise since the end of the Second World War due to adopted lifestyles by the people: communities in the Pacific consume diets with a lot of fat and protein which contribute to weight-related health complications (Mullins et al., 2016). Alcoholism is also another cause of liver complications and deaths: alcoholism is highly prevalent in the United States with approximately 67% of adults in the country based on 2007 statistics, from which 22,073 died.
Socioeconomic Status and Health
The socioeconomic status of an individual or community influences several aspects of healthcare, such as access to proper medical facilities for diagnosis and treatment, drug use, proper diet, among many other factors. For instance, in Brazil about 47% of the population are infected with HIV/AIDS and approximately 60% of these cases contracted the disease through drug use: sharing needles, and careless sex due to poor judgement caused by drug use (Inciardi, 2018). The use of drugs in Brazil is high among low income individuals who resort to drugs to fight depression and poverty. Additionally, low socioeconomic classes have a challenge in accessing proper medical facilities for healthcare: most individuals in this group exhibit illness behavior that is skewed towards self-diagnosis and traditional treatment options, mostly pain relievers. Therefore, this illness behavior mostly leaves them to die from diseases or develop further health complications. Individuals in high socioeconomic classes on the other hand are less likely to be affected by factors such as challenges in accessing quality healthcare.
Occupation and Health
The nature of a person’s occupation determines their occupational socialization. Most individuals in sedentary occupations tend to spend most of their time sitting in the offices, which is likely to impact their health in terms of weight management, heart diseases, blood pressure, among other complications. The cause of such health complications is influenced by the many hours spent with most parts of the body not actively engaged, except the brain and a few muscles. On the other hand, non-sedentary occupations engage the bodies of involved individuals but at the same time exposes them to risks such as accidents in a construction site, which affects their wellness.
Conclusion
The sociology of healthcare is focused on explaining the relationship between health and the society. Based on the medical norm, biological, medical, and natural factors are considered to have direct impact on the wellness of the human body; however, it is imminent that social factors such as religion, education, occupation, lifestyle, and economic status have significant impact on the wellness of the human body. Therefore, human beings ought to observe these factors to maintain a healthy living.
References
Inciardi, J. (2018). Sex, drugs, and HIV/AIDS in Brazil . Routledge.
Mullins, P. M., Mazer-Amirshahi, M., & Pines, J. M. (2016). Alcohol-related visits to US emergency departments, 2001–2011. Alcohol and alcoholism , 52 (1), 119-125.
Rödlach, A. (2016). Witches, Westerners, and HIV: AIDS and cultures of blame in Africa . Routledge.
