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1. Define health and illness.
The WHO defines health as a “state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. In contrast, illness is generally understood as a period of impaired functioning of the body or mind not caused by physical trauma.
2. What are the social determinants of health?
The social determinants of health are the sociological factors that affect health, including income, social status, employment, social supports and access to health services.
3. How do income level, minority status and gender influence health and illness?
The major inequalities in health in Canada are based upon these three factors, for a number of reasons. Poor Canadians are less likely to go to the doctor when they are ill as compared to wealthier Canadians. Indigenous peoples and visible minority immigrants’ adverse health outcomes are in part a result of the toll that racism takes on their lives. Women have historically been left out of research studies, and therefore treatments that specifically address women are nowhere near as advanced as treatments that specifically address men.
4. What are the key features of Canada’s healthcare system?
The guiding principles of Canada’s healthcare system (according to the Canada Health Act are as follows: universal, accessible, comprehensive, portable, and publicly administered.
5. What are the key challenges faced by Canada’s healthcare system today?
The key challenges our healthcare system faces today are increased wait times, demographic shifts, and the associated rising costs.
6. Discuss emerging health concerns in Canada.
Emerging health concerns in Canada include an alarming rate of drug overdoses due to opioids, the catastrophic health consequences of climate change, the legalization of marijuana, and medically assisted suicide.
7. What are feminist sociologists concerns regarding sociology of health and illness?
Feminist theorists are concerned with how gender acts as a social determinant of health, using an intersectional lens. They are also interested in the medicalization of women’s bodies and lives, including PMS, menopause and pregnancy.
8. What is the sick role?
The sick role works as a method of social control and involves a number of expectations around how sickness should be performed.
9. Describe medicalization and provide an example.
Medicalization is the process by which conditions, experiences and issues become treated as illness or disease. Examples are low libido, erectile dysfunction, and even small breasts (known as “macromastia”).
10. How do Symbolic Interactionists think about the role of labeling in relation to health and illness?
Symbolic Interactionists are interested in the processes by which people and states become labeled as sick or healthy. These labels often have serious consequences for people’s lives. For example, individuals’ “master status” can be overtaken by the labels of HIV positive or bipolar.