This essay will be looking at what is meant by the term social model of health and I will be describing the differences when it is compared to the medical model of health. The social model of health is a view that health is multidimensional with social factors, such as class, gender and ethnicity, influencing and patterning health and illness. The medical model of health is a specific way of thinking about and explaining disease based on biological factors One of the recognized explanations of health is established by the World Health Organisation (WHO 1946). WHO defined health as state of complete physical, mental, spiritual and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. (WHO, 1946).
Two Models of Health Researchers have depended on scientific models and theories, such as the biomedical and biopsychosocial model (BPS), of human functioning in order to treat pathological mental and physical illnesses for decades. Advances in medicine, adequate patient treatment and health awareness are all significant contributions to society brought about by both clinicians and scholars who have utilized the biomedical and/or biopsychosocial model in their practice or scientific research. However, both the biomedical and biopsychosocial model each maintain their own unique stance on health and illness; one theory subscribing to the concept that all human disease can be explained in terms of a biological departure from normal cellular and organic functioning, while the other postulates that a combination of biological, psychological, and sociological factors all play an important part in the manifestation of disease and illness. Although both medical models are used by physicians and health psychologists alike, each receive training in their prospective fields, leaning more towards one model over the other, when it comes to explaining and treating illness. However, the question still remains whether or not all medical research into health and illness can be adequately investigated using ‘normal’ scientific empiricism.
When it comes to understanding health doctors and other medical professional’s use what is know as the biomedical model of health. The biomedical model treats illness as strictly something that is wrong with the workings of the body caused by things such as germs, disease and accidents and doesn’t take in to account a persons social or mental factors. The biomedical model also gives doctors a set of basic guidelines in which to work to. These guidelines include some practices that the general public would just take as obvious, for example; putting the care of the patient as top priority, to do no harm to the patient and to provide a cure for the patients ailment. These are all things we expect to get when we visit the doctor as this is why we go there.
The functionalist approach The functionalist approach is seen as a structural consensus theory in which health is studying the relationship between the sick individual and its affects on the society as a whole. Talcott Parsons stated that using the traditional functionalist approach, for the society to function efficiently the members of the society need to be free from illness and must be in good health so that society can conform to a general level of running smoothly with the 4 pillars of society . The functionalist view of health and social care believes that medicine serves the safety of society as a whole and that the public are protected from people whom may want to abuse or damage the system. The society’s role is controlling limiting the abuse of the sick role by acting as a gate keeper and legitimates absence from work for individuals. This can be achieved by protecting the public from corrupt practice.
Nursing accountability is also considered in relation to the contemporary Western health care system as a whole. New and critical essays examine the nature of professional codes, care, medical judgement, nursing research and the law. Controversial issues, such as feeding those who cannot or will not eat, the epidemiology of HIV and dilemmas of choice and risk in the care of the elderly are tackled honestly and openly. Geoffrey Hunt is the first philosopher to have been employed by the National Health Service. In 1992, his controversial National Centre for Nursing Ethics at the Hammersmith Hospital was closed down, reopening in 1993 at the University of East London.
| | Evidence | P1 | Explain the concepts of equality, diversity and rights in relation to health and social care | | 1 | | Powerpoint | P2 | Describe discriminatory practice in health and social care | | 1 | | | P3 | Describe the potential effects of discriminatory practice on those who use health or social care services | | 1 | | | M1 | Assess the effects on those using the service of three different discriminatory practices in health and social care settings. | | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Learner declaration | I certify that the work submitted for this assignment is my own. I have clearly referenced any sources used in the work. I understand that false declaration is a form of malpractice.Learner signature: Date: | Assignment brief Qualification | BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma Health and Social care | Unit number and title |
To provide culturally appropriate care we need to know and to understand culturally influenced health behaviors. Since the perception of illness and disease and their causes varies by culture, these individual preferences affect our approaches to healthcare. Culture also influences how people
In order to improve the nation’s health and end the disproportion in health care to vulnerable populations, the social determinants of health must be addressed foremost in order to achieve an understanding of the issues that are affecting so many Americans and what must be done in the fight toward equality in the U.S. health care delivery system. All of the social factors are a part of a cycle, one affecting the other. Elements of each social factor influence the others in a specific way. These social factors mainly affect the underserved populations of racial and ethnic minorities, women and children, rural residents, the uninsured, homeless peoples, mental health patients, patients with chronic illness or disabilities, and HIV/AIDs patients. In the U.S., social factors are associated with lower overall health care usage and access (Shi & Singh, 2010).
M1 – biomedical and social – medical models of health The biomedical model of health looks at individual physical functioning and describes bad health and illness as the presence of disease and symptoms of illness as a result of physical causes such as injury or infections and doesn’t look at the social and psychological factors. E.g. biomedical models assume that the complexity of individual can be reduced so that by accumulating facts about the parts that make up their body a decision about how to fix that part will result in health Its weakness of this model is that it lies in its failure to fully include psychosocial factors which have proven to be powerful co-factors of disease in modern society. The strength of the biomedical model is its proven success as a roadmap for diagnosis and treatment of a multitude of diseases over the past two centuries The social model of health looks at how society and our environment affect our everyday health and wellbeing, including factor such as social class, occupation, education, income and poverty, poor diet and pollution. E.g.
To define the concept of ill- health there are two main approaches, arising from different views of what the courses are, referred to as the medical and social models of health. Essentially the foundations of these models of health can be separated by, prevention and cure. The biomedical model focuses on cure for illness, whilst the social models of health underpin the origins of illness, allowing these models to successfully coexists, alongside each. The biomedical model presumes that illness is always due to abnormalities in the body's workings. It works on the theory that if a part of the body goes wrong it should be fixed or replaced, in the same way that a machine would be repaired.