P2. Explain Different Sociological Approaches to Health and Well Being

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hakim P2. Explain different sociological approaches to health and well being 1. There are different sociological approaches to health and well being such as: ● ● the biomedical approach the socio-medical approach The biomedical approach to health and well being is a way of looking at a person’s health as something which is affected by disease, injury and illness rather than the person’s environment and lifestyle. They exclude all other factors which are not related to the body itself. For example, if a person was showing symptoms of a chest infection, the doctor would listen to their chest and send them for an x-ray to find out what has caused the problem rather than questioning their environment and housing conditions. The biomedical model is the dominant way of practising medicine in modern industrial societies such as our own. There are standards concerning the ‘normal’ functioning of the mind and body against which all others can be judged. The doctor then decides what the symptoms that the patient describes signify. On the basis of this a diagnosis is made and interventions decided upon. For example if a patient describes the symptoms of high blood pressure, the doctor may measure his or her blood pressure and the patient may then be prescribed drugs. The doctor therefore is rather like a mechanic mending a faulty motor car. However, the socio-medical approach to health and well-being is a much more holistic approach and takes into account the person’s lifestyle choices, such as poor diet, drug/drinking habits, lack of exercise, poor housing conditions etc., as well as life chances, for e.g. if a person born into a low income family with little option to move from or improve the quality of their home if it is infested with vermin or is damp, is more likely to suffer with poor health and well-being than a person born into a family with a better income.

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