Showing papers in "Health Sociology Review in 2002"
TL;DR: It is argued that rather than a paradigmatic restructuring of medicine, EBM is an appeal to positivistic canons of scientificity which have been systematically challenged by both the philosophy and the sociology of medicine.
Abstract: The aim of evidence-based medicine (EBM) is to introduce scientific coherence into what clinical epidemiologists characterise as the unscientific practice of medicine and, in particular, variations in diagnoses, treatment and prescribing. This paper lays out the claims of
34 citations
TL;DR: The theory in a nutshell: a guide to health promotion theory is given in this article, where the authors present a survey of health promotion theories and its application in the context of social sciences.
Abstract: (2002). Theory in a nutshell: a guide to health promotion theory. Health Sociology Review: Vol. 11, No. 1-2, pp. 96-98.
27 citations
TL;DR: The sociology of health and illness has paid little attention to the part that spiritual experiences and beliefs often play in healing, that is the self-transformation that may enable people to 'live well' in the face of chronic illness as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The sociology of health and illness has paid little attention to the part that spiritual experiences and beliefs often play in healing, that is the self-transformation that may enable people to 'live well' in the face of chronic illness. Part one describes problems that autobiographical accounts of spirituality can create for social theory, both as 'experience' and as claims to sources of knowledge beyond the 'social'. Part two reviews the sociology of chronic illness (1988-2000) and comments on its treatment of spiritual issues. The paper concludes with some suggestions for research questions about spirituality and healing directed towards enhancing the lives of people with chronic illnesses. (author abstract)
18 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors draw on Flyvbjerg's concept of "phronetic social science" to reflect on the types of approaches to social science that are most likely to be relevant to the needs and challenges of Indigenous health, and how researchers interested in the field might proceed.
Abstract: After briefly reviewing the individual contributions to an earlier symposium on Indigenous health, the authors draw on Bent Flyvbjerg's concept of 'phronetic social science' to reflect on the types of approaches to social science that are most likely to be relevant to the needs and challenges of Indigenous health, and how researchers interested in the field might proceed. In so doing they raise questions regarding the sufficiency of the underlying premises and values guiding this area of research. (non-author abstract)
14 citations
TL;DR: Given the conceptual and evidentiary incoherencies in population health and men’s health discourses, the meanings they ascribe to ‘gender and health’ would seem to have limited analytical power and relevance for public health policy.
Abstract: 'Gender and health' is a contested concept whose various meanings have evolved in the course of the emergence and development of social movements concerned with the health of men and women. At the heart of the meaning of 'gender and health' advanced by the women's health movement is the idea of a relationship of social and political inequality between men and women in the field of medically dominated health services. Population health discourse, embraced by the 'new managerialism' in public health policy and the 'new public health', proposes a concept of 'gender and health' that is based on sex differences in health conditions. This is also evoked in men's health discourse so that 'gender and health' refers to the measurable margins of difference in the health conditions of mutually exclusive populations - men and women. Inequality is a feature of this representation but it relates to sex differences in health rates. Health outcomes or needs are thus 'gendered' to the extent that the magnitudes of the rates in sex-based health conditions are unequal. Given the conceptual and evidentiary incoherencies in population health and men's health discourses, the meanings they ascribe to 'gender and health' would seem to have limited analytical power and relevance for public health policy. (author abstract)
9 citations
8 citations
TL;DR: The Social relations of childbirth: consumers and providers in international context was a special symposium published in the Annual review of health social sciences (ARHSS 2001;10:43-79).
Abstract: This essay is a commentary on 'The Social relations of childbirth: consumers and providers in international context' which was a special symposium published in the Annual review of health social sciences (ARHSS 2001;10:43-79). The symposium comprised diverse papers around issues of childbirth and midwifery politics in Australia at the beginning of the 21st century. (non-author abstract)
6 citations
TL;DR: For example, this paper found that women who were happy with their hours of work had better mental and physical health than women who would like to work either more hours or fewer hours.
Abstract: While the labour force participation of women in post-industrial western societies is increasing, study after study shows that women still take major responsibility for family work, whatever their paid employment commitments. However, it has also been shown that employment is associated with better health and wellbeing for women. In regard to optimal integration of work, wellbeing and family life, there is therefore a need for more fine-grained research which looks at the specifics of women's health and their patterns of time use. This paper reports on some associations between satisfaction with hours of paid work and the physical and mental health of mid-age women. Data are drawn from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (now known as the Women's Health Australia [WHA] project) which is a 20 year survey of the health of over 40,000 Australian women in three age cohorts. At the baseline survey in 1996 the cohorts were aged 18-23 ('young'), 45-50 ('mid age') and 70-75 ('older'). While it appears that part-time work is more generally associated with better health for mid- age women, the analysis discussed in this paper showed that women who were happy with their hours of work had better mental and physical health than women who would like to work either more hours or fewer hours. This was true irrespective of how many hours the women actually worked. These findings underscore links between health and employment, and point to the need for social policies which facilitate women's preferences for paid work. (author abstract)
6 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined two different theoretical perspectives that can inform the measurement of social capital and described the different research methodologies associated with each of them, one perspective uses the answers individuals give to social survey questions; the other relies on more complex historical and ethnographic methods.
Abstract: There is increasing interest in measuring 'social capital' to explore the ways social relations contribute to complex health inequalities between population groups. Most research has relied on the health survey to explore social capital concepts but this research methodology is problematic. This article examines two different theoretical perspectives that can inform the measurement of social capital and describes the different research methodologies associated with each. One perspective uses the answers individuals give to social survey questions; the other relies on more complex historical and ethnographic methods. Examples of research using both methodologies are described. The paper argues that key concepts like 'social relations' and 'social capital' are not adequately measured using the individual answers that people report on surveys and that much work still needs to be done to validate what answers to survey questions actually represent. (author abstract)
5 citations
TL;DR: The authors examine the relationship between the notion of inwardness -the idea of attending to oneself as inner -and the subjective experience of cancer in western societies and argue that individual responses to this existential situation can be profoundly affected by the inwardness of radical reflexivity.
Abstract: In this paper I examine the relationship between the notion of inwardness - the idea of attending to oneself as inner - and the subjective experience of cancer in western societies. I argue that this historically limited mode of self-interpretation is rooted in the Augustinian theoretical formulation of personhood in terms of inner and outer, and that it is from within this frame of reference that modern persons attempt to find their bearings. Referring to a study of cancer survivors - here, people who have experienced one episode of cancer and have hopes, though no assurances, that the disease will not recur - I argue that individual responses to this existential situation can be profoundly affected by the inwardness of radical reflexivity. This frame of reference can take on a heightened significance for cancer survivors when a connection is made between the notion of an inner self and personal health. Taking this into account deepens our understanding of how cancer survivors reflect on, and creatively negotiate, the social contexts that they confront. (author abstract)
4 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, disability/postmodernity: embodying disability theory is discussed. But the focus is on the post-modernity of disability theory, rather than the disability itself.
Abstract: (2002). Disability/postmodernity: embodying disability theory. Health Sociology Review: Vol. 11, No. 1-2, pp. 100-102.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe a particular "peng" training drill, simply called the 'peng-drill', created by a small group of Taiji Boxing practitioners in Australia, which is depicted as a form of'sensuous meaning making' - body-out as it were - through which practitioners generate and configure meanings and hence salient body-self-identities, or rather bodily sensibilities.
Abstract: 'Peng' (pronounced 'pung'), or 'ward-off' as it roughly translates, is one of the thirteen 'shi' or core postures/principles of the Chinese meditative, self-healing and martial art of Taijiquan (T'ai- chi Ch'uan). This paper describes a particular 'peng' training drill, simply called the 'peng-drill', created by a small group of Taiji Boxing practitioners in Australia. The analysis draws on the work of cultural theorist Paul Willis, and recent scholarship within the sociology of the body that builds on Willis' work, most notably the work of Alan Radley. It is argued that 'peng-drill' evidences a particular opening out of or 'playing with' the 'objective possibilities' of Taijiquan as a practice. 'Peng-drill' is depicted as a form of 'sensuous meaning making' - body-out as it were - through which practitioners generate and configure meanings and hence salient body-self-identities, or rather bodily sensibilities: as Taiji practitioners - as 'Taiji Boxers'. (author abstract)
TL;DR: This is a timely book given the rapid expansion of the field of palliative care, increased levels of funding available for palliatives care research and the subsequent attempts to encourage new and inexperienced researchers into the field.
Abstract: This is a timely book given the rapid expansion of the field of palliative care, increased levels of funding available for palliative care research and the subsequent attempts to encourage new and inexperienced researchers into the field. This book forms the third volume in the Facing death series. It is intended for all those people wishing to undertake research into palliative care but who lack formal training. However, it is not your typical handbook of research methods but rather brings together a range of previously published articles from a wide range of disciplines involved in palliative care. Editorial comment at the beginning of each part guides the reader to key points associated with the articles that then follow.