Sociology and psychology in public health

2021 ◽  
pp. 291-306
Author(s):  
Stella R. Quah
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Psychology ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Medical Sociology ◽  
Physical Context ◽  
Health And Illness ◽  
The Individual

The disciplines of sociology and psychology differ in interesting ways but they also have common links both conceptually and methodologically. They differ in overall scope: psychology typically focuses on the individual while sociology examines the individual’s social action (agency) and the community’s sociocultural, economic, political, and physical context (structure) within which they live, interact, work, and play. One important similarity between sociology and psychology is that both disciplines have a dedicated subfield for the study of health and illness. These subfields are, respectively, health sociology (also known as medical sociology) and health psychology. Thus, in line with the objective of this volume, the focus of this chapter is on the contributions to public health by health sociology and health psychology, the two subfields most relevant to public health.

Wayne A. Beach, Conversations about illness: Family preoccupations with bulimia. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 1996. Pp. vii, 148. Hb $36.00, pb $16.00.

2000 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 423-425
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Boyd
Keyword(s):  
Health Communication ◽  
Medical Sociology ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Psychological Experience ◽  
Present Book ◽  
The Social ◽  
Health And Illness ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Way

Within the fields of health communication and medical sociology, there is growing interest in exploring the social and interactional character of health and illness. This interest results, in large part, from the recognition that the very foundations of a society's notions of health are inextricably rooted in the social. With the present book, we have one of the first interactional studies of a family's experience with a particular illness: bulimia. Beach provides a glimpse into the way that family members both talk about, and talk into being, the health problems of one of its members. Removing the notion of illness from the individual, psychological experience is not an especially novel idea; but Beach's location of it in the interactional details of a conversation between a grandmother and granddaughter is quite notable.

Health psychology and health promotion

2008 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 123-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toni Faltermaier
Keyword(s):  
Health Psychology ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Health Resources ◽  
Target Groups ◽  
Occupational Groups ◽  
Socially Disadvantaged ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
Health And Illness ◽  
Prevention And Health Promotion ◽  
Basic And Applied Research

Abstract. The Flensburg health psychology group takes a salutogenic perspective and aims at developing innovative health promotion approaches. It stands in the interdisciplinary context of health and educational sciences. Our focus in research is on both, stress processes and lay representations of health and illness in the context of salutogenic theories of health. Basic and applied research activities aim at developing subject-oriented approaches of prevention and health promotion that are designed to promote health resources and competencies in selected settings and target groups. Current research is concentrated on socially disadvantaged groups, on occupational groups and on men to develop tailored health promotion approaches that reach groups in need and which show sustainable effects.

Using Photovoice to understand physical and social living environment influence on adherence to diabetes

2021 ◽  
pp. 136345932110200
Author(s):  
Alice Scavarda ◽  
Giuseppe Costa ◽  
Franca Beccaria
Keyword(s):  
Blood Sugar ◽  
Diabetes Management ◽  
Lifestyle Changes ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
Local Health ◽  
Bonding Social Capital ◽  
Physical Context ◽  
Individual Traits ◽  
Italian City ◽  
The Individual

Within the past several years, a considerable body of research on adherence to diabetes regimen has emerged in public health. However, the focus of the vast majority of these studies has been on the individual traits and attitudes affecting adherence. Still little is known on the role of the social and physical context in supporting or hindering diabetes self-management, particularly from a qualitative standpoint. To address these limitations, this paper presents the findings of a Photovoice study on a sample of 10 type 2 diabetic older adults living in a deprived neighbourhood of an Italian city. The findings reveal that the possibility to engage in diet, exercise and blood sugar monitoring seems to be more affected by physical and social elements of the respondents’ environment than by the interviewees’ beliefs and attitudes. Both environmental barriers and social isolation emerge as barriers to lifestyle changes and self-care activities related to blood sugar monitoring. The predominance of bonding social capital, the scant level of trust and the negative perception of local health services result in a low level of social cohesion, a limited circulation of health information on diabetes management and, consequently, in poor health outcomes.

Dilemmas of nudging in public health: an ethical analysis of a Danish pamphlet

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Busch ◽  
Emilie Kirstine Madsen ◽  
Antoinette Mary Fage-Butler ◽  
Marianne Kjær ◽  
Loni Ledderer
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Screening Programme ◽  
Screening Program ◽  
Ethical Analysis ◽  
Choice Making ◽  
The Face ◽  
Information Materials ◽  
The Individual ◽  
To Receive

Summary Nudging has been discussed in the context of public health, and ethical issues raised by nudging in public health contexts have been highlighted. In this article, we first identify types of nudging approaches and techniques that have been used in screening programmes, and ethical issues that have been associated with nudging: paternalism, limited autonomy and manipulation. We then identify nudging techniques used in a pamphlet developed for the Danish National Screening Program for Colorectal Cancer. These include framing, default nudge, use of hassle bias, authority nudge and priming. The pamphlet and the very offering of a screening programme can in themselves be considered nudges. Whether nudging strategies are ethically problematic depend on whether they are categorized as educative- or non-educative nudges. Educative nudges seek to affect people’s choice making by engaging their reflective capabilities. Non-educative nudges work by circumventing people’s reflective capabilities. Information materials are, on the face of it, meant to engage citizens’ reflective capacities. Recipients are likely to receive information materials with this expectation, and thus not expect to be affected in other ways. Non-educative nudges may therefore be particularly problematic in the context of information on screening, also as participating in screening does not always benefit the individual.

scholarly journals The Integration of People Convicted of a Sexual Offence Into the Community and Their (Risk) Management

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
K. F. McCartan ◽  
K. Richards
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Risk Management ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Ecological Model ◽  
Sexual Offending ◽  
Community Integration ◽  
Sexual Offence ◽  
Political Issue ◽  
Childhood Experiences ◽  
The Individual

Abstract Purpose of Review We are reviewing recent research into the community integration of men convicted of a sexual offence and their (risk) management. This is a high-profile political issue that binds together research in psychology, criminology, politics, health, public health, and policy studies. The review will demonstrate that a multi-disciplinary, life course, EpiCrim-oriented approach is the most effective way of reducing re-offending and promoting desistance in this population. Recent Findings Research demonstrates that life course development, especially from psychology and criminology, has an impact on whether people sexually offend or not. Therefore, to understand sexual offending behaviour, we need to look at the aetiology of said behaviour from a nature and a nurture perspective. Therefore, we need to use an Epidemiological Criminology (a marriage of Public Health and criminology) approach that works at all four stages of the Socio-Ecological Model (SEM) (individual, interrelationship, community, and societal). The research encourages a person first approach, that we look at Adverse Childhood Experiences and past trauma in the lives of men who sexually offend and use this, in conjunction with strength-based approaches, to inclusively integrate them into society. Summary The prevention of sexual offending, both first time offending, and relapse prevention require a multi-level, multi-disciplinary approach. Successful desistance from sexual offending is as much about the community and society as it is about the individual.

scholarly journals Indigenous voices on measuring and valuing health states

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther Willing ◽  
Sarah-Jane Paine ◽  
Emma Wyeth ◽  
Braden Te Ao ◽  
Rhema Vaithianathan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Resource Allocation ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Indigenous Health ◽  
Health Needs ◽  
Health States ◽  
Health And Illness ◽  
Kaupapa Māori ◽  
Key Dimensions ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Depth Interviews

The philosophical assumptions that underpin the way in which health states are valued within economic measures of health are rarely made explicit and fail to capture the experiences of Indigenous peoples. Within a Kaupapa Māori theoretical paradigm, in-depth interviews were conducted with six Māori key informants who had cared for whānau (family) members through illness to give voice to dimensions of health and illness that Western economic measures of health fail to capture. An Indigenous measure of health needs to consider the individual within the context of the collective and the environment that they are connected to. Economic measures of health are widely used to inform decisions about resource allocation that have significant impacts on Indigenous health outcomes. This article sets out to start a conversation around what an Indigenous measure of health might look like and how it might value key dimensions of health.

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