bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Homelessness and Health Internationally
Authors: Polakow Valerie , Brooks Marva
Published: February 2014

Homelessness is an urgent international issue that confronts both rich and poor nations and is integrally tied to poverty as wars, famine, natural disasters, and vast degrees of inequality have led to recurring circles of impoverishment. Homelessness represents the worst consequences of poverty and ensuing economic and social deprivation, and the global financial crisis of 2008 onward has exacerbated its impacts. Currently, 1 billion people lack adequate shelter and, of that number, 100 million are homeless. The damaging impacts of homelessness are far‐reaching, contributing to acute health problems, impaired child development, family and community instability, restricted agency and disempowerment, and eroded human capabilities. Mental illness increases the likelihood of homelessness for single adults, while gender violence represents a critical factor that precipitates homelessness among women and children. Global solutions include the development of sustainable human settlements, social protections, broad social housing provisions, and affirmation of fundamental human rights.
Elderly, Health of the
Authors: Arora Amit , O'Neill Andrew
Published: February 2014

Advances in medicine, sanitation, and industry over the past two centuries have produced significant improvements in global health and longevity. Many citizens of Western countries can now expect to live into their eighth or ninth decade, possibly even longer. However, while most older people enjoy good health, those who do not can suffer marked morbidity, placing significant demands on their health care systems, families, and societies. In this entry, we summarize the current trends in health as we age, addressing two major areas of concern – mental health and non‐communicable diseases. We go on to discuss the challenges of caring for an older population, including medical and social care provision, and combating discrimination against this vulnerable group. Finally we look to the future and emphasize the importance of proactive national policymaking in anticipating health demands, nurturing informal care provision by families, and promoting healthier lifestyle choices.
Arabs, Health of
Authors: Jabbour Samer
Published: February 2014

The Arab world comprises the 22 countries of the League of Arab States. Approaching health in the region requires multidisciplinary and historical perspectives that can illuminate understanding of the development of the postcolonial Arab state and the socioeconomic, political, and environmental determinants of health and health inequities.
Mental Illness in Adolescence and Young Adulthood
Authors: Mossakowski Krysia N. , Robles Andrew
Published: February 2014

It is important for social scientists to study mental illness during adolescence and young adulthood. Adolescence is considered to be the life stage that generally represents the teenage years. According to sociologists, adulthood is when adult social roles (e.g., spouse, parent, and full‐time employee) have been achieved. We explore the definitions of adolescence, the transition to adulthood, emerging adulthood, and young adulthood. Research suggests that the timing of the transition to adulthood has intriguing mental health consequences. Although sociologists emphasize that the transition to adulthood does not have a definitive length, this early life stage is known as pivotal for the development of symptoms of psychological distress and the onset of mental illness. In particular, rates of distress, depression, and alcohol abuse/dependence peak during young adulthood. We also discuss the research evidence and some gaps in our knowledge about the effects of different social statuses – socioeconomic status, gender, race/ethnicity, marital status, and sexual orientation – on mental health among adolescents and young adults. Finally, we argue that public policies and interventions need to target the prevention of mental illness by focusing on the social risk factors in adolescence and young adulthood.
Health Professions and Organization
Authors: Scott W. Richard
Published: February 2014

The relation between professional workers and organizations over the years has been fraught with conflict, contradiction, and change, but with some evidence of increasing accommodation. Organizations are constructed around a logic emphasizing a division of labor among workers and coordination and control by managers. Professions emphasize the construction of workers with a broader range of skills who are granted autonomy to control their own work. As professionals increasingly work within organizations, these two logics must be reconciled. During most of the second half of the twentieth century, dual control systems were created: an administrative structure for nursing and service workers and a system of collegial control for the medical staff. Today, much more varied health care organizations have appeared, and in many of these, physicians are increasingly subordinated to managerial and market controls.
Critical Realism
Authors: Scambler Graham
Published: February 2014

Critical realism is a philosophical approach that has come to exercise a growing influence on medical sociology. It emanates from the philosophy of science and social science propounded by Roy Bhaskar in the United Kingdom. A cornerstone of this philosophy is the exposure of the “epistemic fallacy,” namely the reduction of what exists to what we can know of what exists. A concentration on epistemology, or the theory of knowledge, has eclipsed interest in ontology, or the theory of being. Critical realism seeks to recover interest in the ontological dimension of our natural and social worlds.
Critical Theory
Authors: Scambler Graham
Published: February 2014

“Critical theory” serves as an umbrella term to encompass a range of oppositional standpoints inside and outside of sociology. Marx, Marcuse, Foucault, Habermas, and Deleuze and Guattari have, for example, all been labeled critical theorists, notwithstanding their philosophical, theoretical, and political differences. In this entry the term will be taken to refer to members of the Institute for Social Research, or the “Frankfurt School.” Principal protagonists were Theodor Adorno, a philosopher with a specialist knowledge of music; Erich Fromm, a psychologist; Herbert Marcuse, a philosopher with wide‐ranging interests; Walter Benjamin, an astonishingly fertile and creative thinker who remained on the periphery of the Institute; and Jürgen Habermas, the leading representative of post‐1968 work and most prolific thinker. It was Max Horkheimer, however, who was the main catalyst, bringing together these unusually gifted colleagues to forge an interdisciplinary critical theory of society.
Illness Experience
Authors: Scambler Graham
Published: February 2014

The ways in which people come to see themselves as unwell, sick, unable to function normally, and so on has varied enormously by time and place but has never been straightforwardly reducible to the concepts of local healers. Of course, there always exists an ongoing “dialogue” between communities and their healers, but community or “lay” perspectives invariably have lives of their own. It was in recognition of this that sociologists like Freidson, writing of modern Western medicine, attributed considerable importance to a distinction between “illness,” on the one hand, and “disease,” on the other. Illness, Freidson suggested, might be used to refer to everyday or lay understandings of abnormalities of body or mind perceived as salient by those affected or by kin and consociates around them. Disease might be reserved to denote professional (scientific, expert) perspectives on interruptions to health and well‐being. Illness was deemed to be subjective, disease objective: disease, after all, was defined in terms of textbook signs and symptoms.
Stigma
Authors: Scambler Graham
Published: February 2014

Stigma denotes the presence of an attribute that discredits its possessor. Since it is evident such attributes have varied by time and place, it is apparent that stigma and stigmatization necessarily involve a narrative of social relations: an attribute that shames bearers at one spatiotemporal juncture can pass them by at another. Goffman, who pioneered the study of stigma as a social relation, contributed a range of conceptual insights that have survived half a century. His distinction between people who are “discredited” and “discreditable” has been especially influential within medical sociology. The discredited possess a conspicuous or intrusive attribute that they cannot conceal, their principal challenge being to negotiate or manage the (stereotypical) impressions that others have of them and bring to their dealings with them. By contrast, the discreditable have an attribute or condition that is potentially shaming but which is inconspicuous or non‐intrusive: for them the challenge is to manage the information that others have about them (who to tell, when, and with what consequences?). The challenges and threats confronting people who are blind or stutter differ from those facing people with diabetes.
Mental Health and Ethnic Identity
Authors: Mossakowski Krysia N. , Wongkaren Turro
Published: February 2014

A growing social scientific literature suggests that ethnic identity has implications for mental health. Ethnic identity refers to a sense of ethnic pride, involvement in ethnic practices, and cultural commitment to one's ethnic group. Thus far, studies on the relationship between ethnic identity and mental health have provided contradictory findings. Some studies find that having a strong ethnic identity is associated with better mental health, while other studies indicate that ethnic identity does not influence mental health. Moreover, these findings have varied by racial/ethnic group as well as by the measurement of ethnic identity and mental health. We discuss the conceptualization of ethnicity, the two opposing hypotheses that have framed the literature, evidence of the mental health consequences of ethnic identity, and its role in coping with discrimination. Finally, gaps in the literature and suggestions for future research are also highlighted.
Depression
Authors: Mossakowski Krysia N.
Published: February 2014

An extensive social scientific literature has examined one of the most prevalent mental disorders in the world – depression. Social scientists are particularly interested in the extent to which symptoms of depression can inhibit social functioning, such as participating in daily activities. The symptoms used for clinical diagnosis of a major depressive disorder are highlighted, together with the measurement of depression in surveys of the general population. Furthermore, the controversy in the sociological literature is discussed, pertaining to the use of symptom scales versus diagnostic cut‐off measures of depression, and how to draw the line, so to speak, between diagnosed depression and normal sadness. Also, the groundbreaking findings of medical sociologists and social epidemiologists on the social risk factors of depression and the social stigma are examined. In sum, social scientists will continue to study symptoms of depression because they capture important differences in psychological distress and quality of life within our society.
Abortion
Authors: Bretin Hélène
Published: February 2014

Abortion is one of many types of birth control, consisting in the termination of a pregnancy before full term is reached. According to historical and sociohistorical works, since ancient times and in various types of society, there have always been ways of attempting to achieve this objective. The impetus of feminist studies and gender studies has been decisive in research and in the development of anthropological, sociological, and historical analyses of this issue.
Contraception
Authors: Bretin Hélène
Published: February 2014

The study of contraception as a social and cultural norm is at the intersection of various approaches – historical, sociological, and anthropological, demographic and feminist. Historical works bear witness to the fact that techniques designed to counter the fertilization potential of sexual practices have existed for a long time. These forms of birth control have evolved as knowledge (scientific and medical in particular) and technology have improved and as social requirements and demographic policies have changed.
Health, the Internet, and Media
Authors: Kivits Joëlle
Published: February 2014

A new field of study has emerged over the last decade, often referred to as eHealth studies, a generic term for research examining health and the Internet. This entry presents sociological perspectives on the Internet, media, and health, and the main four study areas: uses and practices of the Internet for health reasons, the impact on the doctor–patient relationship, new forms of knowledge and expertise, and online communities.
Refugees, Health, and Gender
Authors: McMichael Celia
Published: February 2014

From a public health perspective, refugee populations constitute a concentration of “at‐risk” people, and women and girls face particular health risks. There are gender dimensions to the distribution of malnutrition and infectious disease in camp settings, post‐traumatic stress disorder, sexual and reproductive health, and gender‐based violence. Given that women and their dependent children constitute between 70 and 80 percent of all internally displaced people, their health deficits of are also identified as a critical gender issue. A broad understanding of refugee health must also consider the three “durable solutions” – namely, local integration, voluntary repatriation, and third country settlement – and there are gender‐specific health impacts in sites of displacement and resettlement particularly in relation to gender‐based violence and reproductive health. It is critical to better understand the gendered dimensions of refugee health, and to make gender‐specific commitments to the areas of health, nutrition, sexuality, freedom from violence, and education.
Mental Health Disorders, Prevention of
Authors: Shankland Rebecca
Published: February 2014

Mental disorders refer to psychological and social symptoms which lead to individual and relational dysfunction. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), one person in every four will be affected by a mental disorder at some stage of his or her life. Among the most important mental illnesses reported are anxiety, depression, and substance misuse. These have become a major public health concern and have led to greater efforts in the field of prevention. Prevention of mental health disorders aims at inducing behavior change in order to reduce the incidence (the number of new individuals suffering from the disorder each year) and prevalence (the total number of individuals suffering from the disorder) of a given disorder. Research data supports the efficacy of prevention programs, in particular those aiming at developing parental competences. However, more recent research studies have developed interventions based on protection factors rather than solely on risk factors. This field of study is considered as health promotion. Mental health promotion strategies aim at improving well‐being and potential for health rather than avoiding a specific disease. Recent research in the field of mental health promotion has led to promising pathways and to general recommendations that can be made to policymakers and health promotion actors.
Pandemic Preparedness and Response
Authors: Quah Stella R.
Published: February 2014

A crucial part of epidemic control is prevention or preparedness. This article examines what we have in terms of preparedness and proposes that preparedness must begin with primary surveillance whereby health authorities obtain the cooperation of individual members of the community as well‐informed and collaborative primary sources of data. Three stages of surveillance are examined. It is essential for a country that the elements of those stages are in place so that its preventive efforts can be effective and the country can collaborate internationally in epidemic prevention. Experience from previous epidemics show that countries differ from each other substantially in the efficacy of the three stages of surveillance and thus in their readiness for international collaboration in epidemic prevention.
Patents and Health
Authors: Cassier Maurice
Published: February 2014

The history of patents in the health field has been characterized by conflicts and exceptions since the early nineteenth century. Many states, both in Europe and in the global south, excluded medicines and medical methods from patenting for a long time, while the codes of ethics of medical organizations and faculties proscribed patenting by doctors and scientists. Today the pharmaceutical industry patents more innovations than any other, and is also the industry whose patenting practices are challenged the most by states and civil society. Contrary to the postulates of jurists who believed that the industrialization of pharmaceuticals and the growth of investments in research unquestionably justified the patenting of medicines under common patent laws, the normalization of medicine patents was rapidly called into question by the AIDS epidemic. The globalization of 20‐year medicine patents which occurred with the creation of the World Trade Organization in 1994 triggered opposition and challenges to the innovation patent model. Economists and NGOs now vie with each other in proposing ways of reconciling innovation and access to treatment.
Family Caregivers: Stroke
Authors: Hafsteinsdóttir Thóra B.
Published: February 2014

Patients with stroke are faced with serious long‐term health care problems resulting from the stroke. Providing patients and caregivers with good education concerning stroke recovery is an important aspect in the care of these patients. Education supports people in the understanding of their illness and in decision‐making, and reduces anxiety and uncertainty. Lack of education in patients and caregivers can lead to misconceptions, anxiety and fear, poor health status, and emotional problems like depression. Patient education begins with the provision of factual information but also includes the interpretation and integration of information in such a manner as to bring about attitude or behavior changes that benefit the person's health status. Although information improved patients’ and caregivers’ knowledge concerning the stroke, increased their satisfaction, and led to less depression in patients, no evidence was found for the reduction of patient's anxiety or mortality, or caregiver's stress. This may be due to the fact that health care professionals often give information based on what they think patients and caregivers want to know and not on what patients and caregivers themselves need to know. Therefore it is important to provide a clear overview of the education needs of patients with stroke and their caregivers.
Stress and Crime
Authors: Artello Kristine , Williams Shanna
Published: February 2014

Criminal actors and victims experience various forms of stress related to criminal activity. Stress and crime are interrelated in a linear fashion (e.g., stress causes crime) and in a reciprocal cycle (e.g., victimization inducing stress). Strain theories posit the causal relationship of stress to crime, and psychological conditions, such as post‐traumatic stress disorder and acute stress disorder, explain the experience of stress caused by criminal action. Using general strain theory to explain the causal relationship, recent research explores the circumstances that cause stress and result in crime. Gender differences will be explored in relation to criminal activity resulting from stress. Lastly, victimization in the prison system and community will be explored as crime inducing stress. Future areas to explore the stress–crime relationship in research will be suggested.
Stress and Mental Illness
Authors: Mossakowski Krysia N.
Published: February 2014

Social scientific research has highlighted that stressful experiences, social statuses, and environments contribute to the development of mental illness. Sociologists have contributed to our knowledge with social stress theory, which acknowledges levels of exposure to stress and access to coping resources. Numerous studies have used the social stress process model to explain the link between social inequality and mental health disparities. This model is the basis for social stress theory. According to social stress theory, people with disadvantaged social status are more likely to be exposed to stressors and to be more vulnerable to stress because they have limited psychosocial coping resources; these in turn lead to a higher risk of mental illness. Sociological studies have further revealed that chronic stressors have a more harmful influence on mental health than acute stressors, such as life events. Therefore, chronic stressors should be taken into account, as well as the number of stressful life events, in assessing exposure and mental health risk. This entry will discuss key advances in the social scientific literature on stress and mental illness.
Health and Smoking
Authors: Jacques‐Tiura Angela J. , Chen Xinguang
Published: February 2014

Tobacco use is the most preventable cause of morbidity and mortality. Prevention of smoking among adolescents is vitally important because 90 percent of adult smokers started the habit before the age of 18. The unique characteristics of smoking behavior progression during adolescence require sustained prevention intervention efforts to reduce tobacco initiation and use. Approximately one in five adolescents and adults in the United States currently smoke cigarettes. Exposure to prevention programs is shown to be associated with lower rates of smoking and relapse, and with higher rates of quitting; the reduction in funding to support tobacco prevention since 2003 has been associated with increased rates of relapse and decreased rates of quitting. Tobacco use, with HIV/AIDS and overweight and obesity, are the three most significant public health challenges facing us. To win the war against the tobacco use epidemic, a balanced and sustained effort to prevent tobacco use among adolescents is essential.
Multiple Roles and Women's Health
Authors: Willigen Marieke Van
Published: February 2014

In modern societies today the most common role set for women is that of wife, mother, and employee. Two hypotheses have been advanced regarding the impact of multiple roles on women's health. The first – the multiple burden or role strain hypothesis – suggests that additional roles bring more responsibilities, leading to negative impacts on health. The second – role enhancement – suggests that multiple roles represent greater social attachment, leading to improved health. Research has generally refuted the role strain hypothesis. Whether or to what extent multiple roles have positive influences on women's health depends on the social context and the meaning of the roles to the individual.
Traditional Health Services Utilization among Cancer Patients in Developing Countries
Authors: Broom Alex , Kirby Emma
Published: February 2014

While Western (bio)medicine dominates health service delivery in Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) countries, traditional health services continue to provide for up to 80 percent of health care needs in developing countries. Traditional medicine (TM), in this context, refers to well‐known systems such as traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), Indian Ayurveda, and Arabic Unani medicine, and to various forms of indigenous medicines. TM includes diverse health practices and beliefs incorporating plant‐, animal‐, and mineral‐based medicines, spiritual therapies, and manual techniques to maintain well‐being and to treat, diagnose, or prevent illness. Traditional health services remain particularly important in rural and remote areas of many developing countries where a paucity of biomedicine exists.
Genital Mutilation/Cutting, Female
Authors: JohansenNorwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress S R. Elise B. , Bagnol Brigitte
Published: February 2014

An estimated 140 million women have undergone female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) worldwide, and, in Africa alone, more than 3 million girls are at risk annually. The World Health Organization defines FGM/C as procedures involving the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs, for non‐medical reasons.
Stigma, Stress, and Health
Authors: Stringer Kristi Lynn
Published: February 2014

Health‐related stigma has recently gained a great deal of attention among medical sociologists, public health professionals, and the psychiatric and medical communities. Social stigma has been identified as particularly detrimental to individual health through its impact on self‐esteem, self‐efficacy, and increased levels of stress and distress. Furthermore, studies indicate that social stigma plays a significant role in health care utilization and treatment adherence. Social science researchers, public health professionals, patient advocates, and medical practitioners have recently called for a specific plan to reduce health‐related stigma and its consequences.
Stress Outcomes, Measuring
Authors: Young Wendy B. , Foy Steven L. , George Linda K.
Published: February 2014

The terms “stress” or “stressor” usually refer to situations, demands, or burdens that require individuals to adapt their behavior, while stress response is the heightened bodily reaction to perceived stress. As stress accumulates, individuals’ abilities to cope can become overtaxed, depleting mind–body resources and increasing the probability of poor health. Stress outcomes of concern to health researchers span the realms of mental health, physical health and functioning, mortality, and biomarkers. Research shows that the impact of stress is large, affecting body chemistry, the functioning of organ systems, mental and physical health, and ultimately risk for mortality.
Durkheim, Émile
Authors: Cockerham William C.
Published: February 2014

Although Émile Durkheim, one of sociology's most important founding figures, was not a medical sociologist and did not focus on health issues, he nevertheless has a lasting influence on health‐related studies of the effects of social structures on health, disease, and mortality. As seen in his book
Suicide
, Durkheim finds that social conditions and structures beyond an individual's control can influence people to respond in unhealthy ways.
Race, Religion, and Health, Intersection of
Authors: Reimer‐Kirkham Sheryl
Published: February 2014

The intersection of religion and race in the context of health, health inequities, and health care services is a complex and understudied field, yet it carries profound ramifications for the health of individuals and societies. In this entry, the contributions and imperatives of intersectional theorizing about religion and race in the context of health, health inequities, and health services are discussed, beginning with an overview of intersectionality, followed by a brief synopsis of scholarship in the areas, respectively, of race and health and religion and health. The argument is made that any study of religion and health needs to be complicated by intersectional analyses of race, gender, and class, and, equally, that any study of race and health requires accounting for the imbrication of religion (along with other intersecting social structures) if we are to address today's health inequities.
Medical Education, Cultural Competence in
Authors: Stevens Fred , Goulbourne Jacqueline Simmonds
Published: February 2014

Cultural competence is often described as the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and attitudes to better understand and to serve others with different systems of complex symbols and belief. Different researchers view cultural competence through different lenses, though there is a striking commonality in viewing competency as skills and knowledge in terms of an ability to manage others who deviate from the dominant culture. Moving cultural competence in medical education from a focus on learning about the specifics of others toward ongoing cultural learning and the development of critical consciousness and cultural humility requires a generic approach that makes students aware of their assumptions, biases, norms, and values. It implies creating a critical awareness of what a physician's social role and responsibilities involve. Cultural competence begins when we become aware that it is not only about otherness but also about self and the familiar. An individual or agency cannot be culturally competent, but must continually value and work toward culturally competent practices.
Stressful Life Events
Authors: Irby‐Shasanmi Amy , Redmond Deidre Lynn
Published: February 2014

Sociologists study the effect stress has on well‐being. They examine the aspects of the social environment and life circumstances that can be detrimental to the health of individuals. Collectively, these aspects of one's life are called stressors. There are several different types of stressors: life events, chronic strains, daily hassles, traumas, and non‐events, which each effect mental and physical health to different degrees and in varying ways. Sociologists often use the stress process model, a theoretical framework, for analyzing the social origins of health. The contribution of contemporary and future research on stressors and health will document and analyze stressful events that occur across the life course.
Risk, Uncertainty, and Health
Authors: Moreira Tiago
Published: February 2014

Health risk has been associated with new disease burdens in society and with shifting relationships between experts and lay persons in health care. A focus on knowledge uncertainty enables an exploration of the moral worlds and associated ways of knowing that remain largely hidden in health policy debates and political controversies about health care.
Health Care Delivery System: France
Authors: Schweyer François‐Xavier
Published: February 2014

The French health system is considered good in terms of both general health indicators and how it operates. However, the high level of health expenditure is becoming an acute problem. Regulation of providers (hospitals and health professionals) remains incomplete, and there are significant health inequalities. Structural reforms in organization and financing are underway, aimed at improving governance and regulation of the system.
Medical Education and Faculty Development
Authors: Steinert Yvonne
Published: February 2014

Faculty development refers to that broad range of activities institutions use to renew or assist faculty in their multiple roles as well as those activities individuals engage in independently to enhance their abilities as teachers and educators, researchers and scholars, and leaders and administrators. In response to multiple factors, faculty development has become an increasingly important component of medical education. The majority of faculty development programs focus on teaching improvement. However, faculty development can play a significant role in helping health care professionals become more effective researchers and leaders; it can also focus on academic career development and organizational change. Health care professionals develop their knowledge, skills, and abilities in a number of ways, including both formal and informal approaches. Formal faculty development initiatives include workshops and seminars, short courses, fellowships, and other longitudinal programs. Informal approaches include work‐based learning and belonging to a community of practice. Mentorship is also key in promoting professional development. Faculty development activities have been highly valued by health care professionals, many of whom report an impact on their knowledge, skills, and behaviors as a faculty member. Academic vitality is dependent upon faculty members’ interest and expertise; faculty development plays a critical role in promoting academic excellence and vitality.
Weber, Max
Authors: Cockerham William C.
Published: February 2014

Max Weber is one of the foremost sociologists of all time who made numerous contributions to sociology and helped to establish the discipline as a distinct field of study. Although he was not a medical sociologist or an analyst of health‐related topics, his many insights into modern social conditions have influenced the work of scholars interested in health and illness. Weber's concepts of (1) socioeconomic status, (2) lifestyles, and (3) rationality and bureaucracy underlie many studies in medical sociology today on social class and health, health lifestyles, and hospitals.
Methodology
Authors: Tjørnhøj‐Thomsen Tine
Published: February 2014

Methodology pertains to another level of abstraction or research activity than method. The term “methodology” is used in various ways, often interchangeably with the term “method.” Method can be defined as a particular systematic way of conducting an inquiry, investigation, or analysis, in terms of procedural rules or particular techniques. In‐depth interviews, observations, as well as surveys and questionnaires are examples of data collection methods or data generation methods, while, for instance, statistical analysis or narrative analysis are methods of data analysis or data interpretation. Sometimes methodology is used for a body of methods employed within a particular academic field. The particular methods are linked to and informed by specific approaches, research traditions, or theories. In regard to qualitative research methods these are often presented in the literature as ethnography, phenomenology, case studies, narrative analysis, or grounded theory. Quantitative methods are associated with, for instance, statistical analysis, multilevel analysis, and regression analysis. But the reasoning and rationale for how these approaches link to the actual research methods belong to methodology.
Stress Process, The
Authors: Aneshensel Carol S. , Mitchell Uchechi A.
Published: February 2014

The stress process model is the predominant theoretical model for understanding the role of social stress in generating mental health disparities. Its components include: (1) stressors, which are external conditions that pose a threat or that obstruct attaining goals; (2) stress, the internal physiological arousal that results from exposure to a stressor; (3) distress, which is the emotional response that may result in mental and emotional disorder; and, (4) social and personal resources that counterbalance exposure to stressors. Key processes are the mediating and moderating role of resources with regard to the impact of stress on mental health.
Gender, Health, and Constrained Choice
Authors: Bird Chloe E. , Lang Martha E.
Published: February 2014

In this entry, we review and discuss gender differences in health and mortality and how they vary over time and cross‐nationally. We then summarize our integrative framework of constrained choice. This framework demonstrates how decisions made and actions taken at the levels of family, work, community, and government shape men's and women's opportunities to pursue health and, in so doing, contribute to observed disparities. Constrained choice provides a holistic, systematic approach to understanding this paradox and demonstrates that a multidisciplinary approach is essential to understanding gendered health inequalities. Constrained choice is intended to inform health conscious decision‐making and policy creation at the national, state/province, or local levels of government as well as employment settings, and to help families and individuals to develop health consciousness in making everyday life decisions.
Social Integration, Social Relationships, and Stress
Authors: Chahal Jasleen K. , Ewen Heidi
Published: February 2014

Social relationships allow individuals to share common experiences, as well as providing a sense of meaning in life. Social relationships offer a feeling of belonging and safety, yet they can also be a source of conflict and stress as individuals age. Integration and affiliation with particular social groups are essential for physical and psychosocial well‐being at all ages. Changes in the amount and types of stress associated with social integration and social relationships result from environmental factors, such as neighborhood context, that impact the availability of coping resources and challenge the further development of successful coping abilities essential to well‐being. The life course perspective provides a framework by which scholars study individuals, social paths, and environments in order to gain insight into stress, coping mechanisms, and the complexities of social integration through social relationships.
Primary Care
Authors: Kringos Dionne Sofia
Published: February 2014

Strong primary care provides accessible, comprehensive care in an ambulatory setting to patients in their own context and community on a continuous basis, and coordinates the care processes of patients across the health care system, supported by an appropriate structure of primary care governance, economic conditions, and a sufficiently developed primary care workforce.
Medical Education and the Hidden Curriculum
Authors: Michalec Barret , Hafferty Frederic W.
Published: February 2014

This chapter provides a broad overview of aspects of hidden curriculum (HC) theory and their implications for medical education. We begin by differentiating between the three primary types of curricula (formal, informal, and hidden) and examine their relative impact on the socialization processes of medical trainees. We then link the rise of a HC literature within medical education to prior work in sociology and education scholarship and spotlight how this more invisible curriculum reflects and perpetuates power relations and hierarchies within health care. We conclude by considering potential implications of HC theory for contemporary initiatives such as interprofessional education, and discuss resilient features of the HC as well as strategies and mechanisms that may assuage its impact on the culture of medical education and medical students’ attitudes and behaviors.
Health Care Delivery System: Germany
Authors: Brockmann Hilke , Schulz Maike
Published: February 2014

Germany has created and maintained the world's oldest universal health insurance system based on solidarity and pay‐as‐you‐go principles. Since 1883, mandatory health insurance has been steadily extended to new population groups. Benefits have increased and become more comprehensive. Since 1970, nearly 90 percent of the total population have been members of a statutory sickness fund; the remainder are privately insured. In 1995, Germany was the first country in the world to implement statutory long‐term care insurance. Today, despite cost containment policies, the total expenditure on health care, mainly financed through the contributions of employers and employees, is 11.6 percent of GDP. The hospital sector, a high number of physicians per capita, and high utilization rates are the main cost drivers. Nevertheless, the German health care system appears quite robust. Empirical findings reveal that medical progress and demographic aging will not necessarily increase health care expenditures.
Screening for Disease: Challenges
Authors: Armstrong Natalie
Published: February 2014

Screening for medical conditions is an important and topical issue. Medical screening, a key strategy of preventive medicine, raises fundamental issues because screening is a social intervention as well as a medical one, and can raise important social dilemmas. By screening here is meant population‐based medical screening: that offered to all people within an identified target population, for example based on age or sex.
Life Course
Authors: Brown Ryan
Published: February 2014

Life course approaches to health and illness over the lifespan have been informed by life course epidemiology, developmental psychology, lifespan sociology, life history theory, among other fields. A life course approach emphasizes the early origins of disease, with evidence mounting for developmental influences that cross multiple generations. It also emphasizes the dynamic, highly unpredictable nature of life course development, which offers constantly changing possibilities for resilience and healing as well as vulnerability and illness. Life history theory offers a theoretical framework for life course approaches to health and illness, binding evolutionary theory with neuroendocrine mechanisms that translate environmental influence into individual biological systems. Cultural systems scaffold human development, providing both pathogenic (illness‐generating) as well as protective (opportunities for healing and resilience) life course possibilities. Current principles in life course approaches to health and illness emphasize both the plasticity of development and the unpredictability of developmental trajectories.
Rural Health Geography
Authors: Munoz Sarah‐Anne
Published: February 2014

“Rural health geography” refers to the study of geographical variations in aspects of health and health services provision within rural areas and between rural and urban areas. Geographers have used quantitative, statistical techniques to look at geographies of disease incidence and health service access. Qualitative methods and theoretical approaches linked to health geography have also been used to understand the lived experience of rural ill‐health.
Foucault, Michel
Authors: Milner Adrienne N.
Published: February 2014

Michel Foucault (1926–84), French social theorist, philosopher, and historian, was a leading figure in poststructuralist thought. He has made important contributions to the field of sociology in general and has also had a significant impact on the subdiscipline of medical sociology in particular. His philosophies of the body, of power and knowledge, and of sexuality continue to inform the field of medical sociology.
Socioeconomic Status, Definition
Authors: Baker Elizabeth H.
Published: February 2014

Socioeconomic status (SES) is defined as a measure of one's combined economic and social status and tends to be positively associated with better health. This entry focuses on the three common measures of socioeconomic status; education, income, and occupation. I include definitions, theoretical background, and empirical support for each of these SES indicators and their relationship with health. SES is generally thought to influence health through three avenues: (1) SES influences health through the ability to purchase health promoting resources and treatments; (2) socialization of early health habits and continuing socialization of health habits differs by SES; and (3) it has been posited that, rather than SES influencing health, health influences SES – less healthy individuals complete fewer years of school, miss more work, and earn lower incomes.
Medical and Illness Narratives
Authors: Taylor Janelle S.
Published: February 2014

This entry presents an overview of some major themes in scholarly studies of medical and illness narratives, with particular emphasis on the work of medical anthropologists. It includes discussion of illness versus disease, explanatory models, clinical narratives, narrative surrender, metaphor, and genre.
Mental Health and Psychiatric Medicine
Authors: Kohrt Brandon A. , Kaiser Bonnie N.
Published: February 2014

Anthropologists and cross‐cultural psychiatrists have examined mental health in cross‐cultural contexts by documenting not only symptoms and treatment, but also idioms of distress, culture‐bound syndromes, and meanings attributed to brain and mind dysfunction. Anthropologists have explored the intersection of social suffering and individual mental illness. Others in the field have critiqued how behavior becomes labeled and often stigmatized as mental illness in psychiatric practice in Western, high‐income countries. Cross‐cultural psychiatrists typically have incorporated this information into developing community and clinic‐based treatment approaches for refugees and immigrants. Increasingly, anthropologists and cross‐cultural psychiatrists have examined how psychiatry is applied in low‐ and middle‐income countries in the movement for global mental health.
Teamwork
Authors: Finn Rachael
Published: February 2014

Health care policy across the developed world has increasingly emphasized the need for teamwork for successful organizational performance, and as integral to quality and safety of service delivery. Teamwork is seen as integral element of health care reform in a context where there is increased emphasis on the need for integrated, “joined up” services across professional and organizational boundaries. Teamwork is seen as key to delivering quality, safe, patient‐centered care by providing a solution to the inherent tension within health care between the need for both specialization and integration in a fragmented, professional division of labor. While policy rhetoric views teamwork as inherently positive and in the collective interest, critics question the normative assumptions and point to the contested and ideological realities of teamwork. Emphasizing the social construction of teamwork, whereby professional and policy institutions shape and constrain its emergence, critics point to the conservative and unintended effects of teamwork such that existing social structures are reproduced rather than transformed. Significantly, if policy ideals for flatter, integrated working through teamwork are to be realized, strategies need to look beyond team members to target the structural conditions – and power interests – in which teamwork exists.
Ethnopharmacology
Authors: Warren Barbara Jones
Published: February 2014

Ethnopharmacology, or ethnic pharmacology, can be described as the scientific and systematic study of how biological traits and cultural perspectives influence and/or change pharmacological responses for persons from culturally and ethnically diverse populations. The care of patients and their families requires a complex, multifaceted treatment approach. Since the 1990s there has been a growing interest in the role of culture, diversity, and culturally competent processes in the pharmacologic management of patients. This entry provides a description of ethnopharmacology and its evolution, including the role of cultural genetics and epigenetics, the methodological challenges related to the study of ethnopharmacology, and future directions for the role of ethnopharmacology within health care.
Geographies of Global Health
Authors: Brown Tim
Published: February 2014

Geographers have recently begun to make a considerable contribution to global health. Most notably, this contribution has involved unpicking the national and international response to the problem of global health and submitting it to critical scrutiny. Such work not only requires paying close attention to the differing ways in which global health is imagined (historically as well as in the contemporary period) but also considering the effects of such imaginings on the material, lived experiences of those most affected.
Health Care Delivery System: Ukraine
Authors: Hankivsky Olena , Vorobyova Anna
Published: February 2014

This entry on the health system in Ukraine will discuss the critical condition of health and health care in the country. Ukraine is in transition and in dire need of reforming its health care delivery system, which still utilizes the highly inefficient Soviet model focused on secondary rather than primary care. International organizations recommend that Ukraine introduces a primary care model to tackle the mortality and morbidity crisis in the country. The government of Ukraine has recently announced the priority it places on improving health outcomes for the population and has launched the first broad‐scale reform, which has been piloted in four regions since the spring of 2012. The success of the reform will depend on the extent to which a new model is advanced that is consistent with a primary care model of health care delivery, is able to address the specific needs of the population, and prioritizes the social determinants of Ukrainian health through new health and health‐related policy strategies and priorities.