Lessons from the Pandemic: Methodological Notes

Pandemic COVID-19 affected the crisis in many areas of public life – in the economy, politics, family, consumer relations, and culture. It has become a challenge for social sciences, especially for sociology. If in other areas of social research, the meaningful gaps can still be compensated by speculations, the increase in sociological knowledge without empirical research is simply impossible. But in the face of restriction of full-time communications, the use of a number of methods and techniques is either completely impracticable or requires significant procedural correction. In addition, the need to correct the content of sociological representation of the total and local objects becomes obvious. The way, the society as a whole, its subsystems, institutes and cohorts, face the pandemic, requires reformulating the axiomatics, and hypothesis of sociological research. Within the frames of this article, the author focuses on several themes, which relevance is aggravated with shifts in social life caused by the pandemic. The first theoretical and methodological “lesson” is the need to rethink the paradigmatic ratio of illusion / objectivity of social law, since there is no secret that the objective contamination of the population is in close connection with the intensity of generating the spread of various prejudices in the public consciousness. The second “lesson” affects the disciplinary status of sociology of medicine, the significance of which in the regulation of social functioning has immeasurably increased. In this regard, the perception of people as a population is a kind of demand for the paradigm status in terms of the sociology of medicine. The third “lesson” is associated with the problem of the rationality of social behavior of a person, because the social design of the pandemic stroke seriously shakes confidence in the sanity of a man. The fourth “lesson” is an attempt to bring in methodological character into the suspicion of the scenario nature of the unfolding global pandemic. Any scenario has its own scriptwriter who has something to say about social laws in general and about the nature of human capital in particular.

NEW METHODS FOR ASSESSING THE TRUST OF FOREIGN CONSUMERS OF MEDICAL SERVICES IN BELARUSIAN DOCTORS

Background. To date, there are no evidence-based ways to assess patients ' trust in medical professionals. The relevance of searching for such methods for studying the level of social trust of foreign consumers of medical services in Belarusian doctors is not in doubt due to the annual increase in the export of medical services. Objective: to develop a new method for assessing the confidence of foreign patients in Belarusian doctors. Material and methods. Based on the Russian and foreign experience in studying trust in the provision of non-medical services and using the principles of sociology of medicine, an approach to the mathematical assessment of the level of trust of foreign consumers of medical services in Belarusian doctors has been developed. Results. The method includes a sociological survey with subsequent calculation of the index of trust in Belarusian doctors, determined on the basis of generalized trust indices (three types), the values of which are calculated based on the values of two indicators: the indicator of generalized trust of foreign consumers in Belarusian doctors and the indicator of the measure of personal trust of foreign consumers in Belarusian doctors. Conclusions. The method of calculating confidence indices needs to be implemented and further tested, the survey of foreign patients is planned to be conducted after each case of receiving medical care in the Grodno region.

Sociology of Medicine: Gender Problems of the Competitiveness of Women Dentists

Modern medicine is developing in a society in which special attention is paid to the quality of services provided, including dental services. At the same time, there are gender stereotypes that impede the full realization of the possibilities of women dentists as professionals, which directly affects the state of this field of medicine as a whole. The study of gender imbalance and the development of measures to improve the competitiveness of female dentists in the modern labor market are relevant at all stages of the organization and provision of dental services. The article reveals gender problems and stereotypes in the dental services market through a sociological survey of practicing doctors.

CELEBRATION OF THE WORLD BIOETHICS DAY IN VOLGOGRAD STATE MEDICAL UNIVERSITY

The article presents the results of research activities which were undertaken in Volgograd Medical University to celebrate the World Bioethics Day. The theme of scientific events organized on the basis of the Department of Bioethics, Philosophy and Medical Law with a course of the sociology of medicine with the participation of the Department of Ethical, Legal and Sociological Expertise in Medicine of Volgograd Medical Scientific Center is “Benefit and Harm”. The article presents the Program of holding a scientific online conference with international participation and the results of the essay competition among students and young scientists.

The problem of adherence to treatment from the standpoint of the sociology of medicine

Objective: to substantiate adherence to treatment as a form of social responsibility of citizens from the standpoint of the sociology of patients. Material and methods. The work uses the principles and methods of the sociology of medicine. A sociological survey of a representative sample of medical care consumers (880 people) on adherence to treatment was conducted, and a model of compliance ratio as a model for subsequent drug therapy was substantiated. Results and discussion. The performed survey has shown that every second patient learns about their rights from the mass media. Men are significantly less likely than women to follow medical prescriptions (p < 0.01). Women are significantly more likely to trust the doctor's opinion about treatment, if they disagree, they are more likely to turn to another specialist, while men are significantly more likely to simply refuse treatment and other recommendations from the attending doctor. The respondents called their own laziness and / or aversion to taking medications as the main reason for non-compliance with treatment. Conclusion. Low social responsibility of patients for compliance with the doctor's recommendations has been found. The concept «adherence to treatment» has been introduced into the problem field of the sociology of medicine.

Technologies in medicine of the future (sociological view)

The study of ideas about the future of medicine is one of the new directions of modern sociology of medicine. At the Departmentof sociology of medicine, health economics and medical insurance of the First state medical University, an analysis of the opinions of senior medical specialists was conducted, which showed that the development of medicine is based on its relationship with science. This will require an understanding of the role of basic science in the training of a modern doctor.

Sociology of medicine:freedom to be yourself – both a doctor and a sociologist (Based on an interview with Andrey V. Reshetnikov,an Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences)

The article is the quintessence of a detailed conversation, that is, an interview by the author with an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Doctor of Sociological Sciences, the founder of modern sociology of medicine in Russia, and the Director of the Institute of Social Sciences of Sechenov University Andrey V. Reshetnikov. The interview was officially conducted on the occasion of the academician A.V. Reshetnikovs birthday. However, other reasons for conducting this interview were as follows: the increased interest of the professional community in the history of the formation of the sociology of medicine a young but already established branch of big sociology the need for researchers to discuss the theory as a tool for learning the fundamental principles of the development of modern society; and the need to determine strategic guidelines and coordinate the vectors of scientific research in line with the discipline. At the same time, the tireless, painstaking work of Andrey Veniaminovich on the development of the scientific school of the sociology of medicine, the formation of a team of like-minded people, and the strengthening of Russian and international relations between medical sociologists are inspiring examples of the realization of a professional vocation.

The creative path of academician of the russian academy of sciences A.V. Reshetnikov at the department of sociology of medicine, health economics and health insurance

The article presents a brief history of the formation of the Department of Sociology of Medicine, Health Economics and Health Insurance, created at Sechenov University by Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences A.V. Reshetnikov. The forward-looking vision of the scientific and educational process of the permanent head of the department helps the team to develop, creatively grow, and discover new areas of work. Actualization of socio-humanitarian knowledge, annual updating of bachelors and masters degree programs for more than twenty years has attracted generations of young researchers in the field of sociology of medicine, health economics, and intelligent systems in sociology to the department.

Medical Humanities in Clinical Rotation of Forensic Medicine and other Clinical Setting

Humanities is one of the pillars of science taught at the Faculty of Medicine. The humanities approach to medicine is believed to be able to provide increased professionalism for doctors in providing services to patients. Several teaching methods have been developed to incorporate medical humanities into the curriculum, including through the approaches of spirituality-religiosity, arts and literature, and narrative medicine. The integration of humanities in medical education can be done by showing professional attitude, communication skills, introspective and practice of self-reflection. In clinical rotation of forensic medicine, medical humanities have been applied to students. One way to implement medical humanities is through several concept approaches, namely religion, bioethics, health law, sociology of medicine and professional behavior.

ETHICS OF DENTAL TOURISM AS A SUBJECT OF SCIENTIFIC INTEREST

The theme of the paper is defined by the relevance and insufficient scientific elaboration of the concept of dental tourism in Russia on the basis of deep, comprehensive and conceptually oriented research. The article presents the analytical review of foreign literature in the field of dental tourism. The authors consider various approaches to the definition of the conceptof dental tourism. Scientific developments which are devoted to the dental tourism have not been conducted in our country yet. Mainly, the scientific developments in the sphere of dental tourism are conducted for advertising purposes. The authors points to the possibility and necessity of this study within the framework of sociology of medicine which has the methodological and operational basis for achieving the planned result.