bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Mental Health
Authors: Mossakowski Krysia N. 
Published: February 2014

AbstractA large literature in the sociology of mental health has investigated the social causes and consequences of mental illness. The social causes of mental illness have been examined by focusing on disadvantaged social statuses and stressful environments or experiences. The social consequences of mental illness have mainly been examined by research using theories about labeling and stigma. Furthermore, the measurement of mental illness in sociology has been a controversial issue. As a whole, the sociological perspective emphasizes the social causation of mental illness as well as the relationship between mental health and society via social contexts, institutions, relationships, roles, and statuses. In contrast, the biological or medical perspective currently focuses on genetics and a chemical imbalance in the brain as the causes of mental illness. Overall, the past, present, and future of the sociology of mental health will be discussed.
Nutrition and Health
Authors: van Dam Rob M. 
Published: February 2014

Abstract
Nutrition refers to the effects of food and its components on maintenance, repair, growth, and functioning of the body. A lack or excess of specific food components can affect physiological processes and ultimately impair health. Until the middle of the twentieth century, most research on nutrition and health focused on lack of specific nutrients that are directly responsible for deficiency diseases. This research has led to the identification of a wide range of essential nutrients and recommendations on adequate intakes of these nutrients. More recently, nutrition research has also focused on the role of diet in the development of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Different types of research (observational and experimental) and different approaches to research (reductionist and more holistic) have contributed to the successful identification of dietary patterns and specific dietary components that can modify the risk of chronic diseases.
Community Intervention Trials
Authors: Labrique Alain B. , Katz Joanne 
Published: February 2014

AbstractFew research approaches have dominated the landscape of epidemiologic investigation as have intervention trial methods. Over the past four decades, numerous refinements have been made to the methods used to define the efficacy of public health and clinical strategies, from drugs to behavioral interventions. In contrast to observational methods, intervention studies or trials strive to demonstrate, to the extent possible, causal associations between the public health strategy and the health outcome under investigation. Community intervention trials aim to measure the feasibility, efficacy, or effectiveness of a putative public health strategy, beyond the confines of clinical facilities, in the free‐living populations where these strategies are likely to be implemented. The evidence generated by robust, rigorous, sometimes randomized, controlled community intervention trials often serves as the basis for the design and implementation of public health programs.
Mental Illness in Childhood
Authors: Avison William R. 
Published: February 2014

AbstractSociological research on mental illness in childhood has focused on four major topics. Studies have examined the effects that family structure has on children's mental illness. Research has also focused on the intergenerational transmission of mental illness in families. It is also clear that poverty is importantly associated with children's mental health problems. Recently, sociologists have studied the impact of neighborhood contexts and their effects on mental illness in childhood. New developments in the study of mental illness in childhood include investigations of the impact of victimization in childhood on children's mental health. In addition, sociologists have examined how social influence processes may result in the increased diagnosis of children's mental health problems such as autism.
Pharmaceuticalization
Authors: Gabe Jonathan 
Published: February 2014

AbstractPharmaceuticals have been studied by sociologists since the 1970s but interest has grown in recent years in recognition of their increasing role in people's lives and the expanding power of the companies that manufacture them. Some have suggested that a new concept of pharmaceuticalization is needed to understand the contemporary importance of pharmaceuticals and their manufacturers. This entry reviews the argument in favor of this new concept, the dimensions that mark it out, and the differences between those who advocate its use. In the process, the factors which distinguish pharmaceuticalization from medicalization will also be considered.
Bioethics and Sociology
Authors: De Vries Raymond 
Published: February 2014

AbstractBioethics is an approach to medical morality that emerged in the mid‐twentieth century. Unlike previous incarnations of medical ethics, all of which kept the oversight of physicians in the hands of the medical profession, bioethics introduced non‐physicians, including social scientists, to the work of monitoring the morality of medical practice. Sociology has played an important role in understanding the organization, deployment, and reception of bioethics, but bioethicists have not always welcomed the work of sociologists. While the skills of social science are useful to understanding and resolving the moral quandaries of medicine, critical analyses of the place of bioethicsvis‐à‐vismedicine suggest that bioethics, like earlier versions of medical ethics, may be more attuned to the interests of medicine than to the interests of patients and research subjects.
Race and Class, Intersections of
Authors: Hinze Susan W. 
Published: February 2014

AbstractA large and rapidly growing body of literature has investigated the relative importance of social class and race/ethnicity for health outcomes. However, close examination of how social class intersects with race/ethnicity to produce health is of critical importance and a more recent focus in health research. The enduring survival gap between those in the upper social echelons and those in the lower social echelons persists across times and places, even as causes of mortality shift from infectious disease to chronic illness. Being disadvantaged by social class and underrepresented minority status is double jeopardy, but moving beyond an additive approach to an intersectional approach – especially once gender is included – reveals race and social class as relationships not captured in additive models. Although race/ethnicity and social class have independent effects on health status and health care treatment, their connectedness puts disadvantaged minority groups at risk as income inequality increases in the United States.
Reflexive Modernization
Authors: Hinote Brian P. 
Published: February 2014

Abstract
Introduced by German sociologist Ulrich Beck, reflexive modernization is a relatively recent conceptual development in sociological theory. Many researchers and other writers have drawn upon the ideas surrounding this concept in countless discussions and analyses in multiple disciplines, but medical sociologists have scarcely applied Beck's ideas, with few exceptions. Nonetheless, the concept of reflexive modernization lies at the core of a quite useful framework with which to analyze recent developments in health, health care delivery, clinical practice (in multiple disciplines), public health, social epidemiology, and medical sociology.
Children's and Adolescents’ Health in the United States
Authors: Baker Elizabeth H. 
Published: February 2014

AbstractChildren and adolescents differ from adults because their environment and behaviors are largely structured for them by outside influences, including parents or caregivers, schools, and daycare. This is especially true among younger children. Heath indicators among infants include birth weight and gestational age. These health indicators are strong predictors of health in childhood, adolescence, and even adulthood. Measures of childhood health examined here include cognitive ability, developmental disabilities, vaccinations, and parental ratings of global child health. As children enter adolescence they are granted more autonomy; thus the study of adolescent health includes health decisions made by the adolescents themselves, including risky behavior, sexual activity and health, and substance use. Additionally, another important indicator of child and adolescent health is obesity. Disparities exist on many indicators of child and adolescent health such that non‐Hispanic white children, children whose mothers have higher educational attainment, and children with higher household incomes have better outcomes on many health indicators.
Mental Illness, Sociology of
Authors: Hughes Michael 
Published: February 2014

AbstractThe sociology of mental illness studies the social causes and consequences of mental illness and the processes and consequences of societal reactions to presumed cases of mental illness. Three primary theories in the area are stress theory, structural strain theory, and labeling theory. Epidemiological studies indicate that just under half of the US population has ever had a mental disorder, and just over a quarter of the population has had one in the past year. Though mental illness is stigmatizing, there have been recent increases in the use of mental health treatment facilities.
Death and Dying, Cross‐National Perspectives
Authors: Bodnar‐Deren Susan , Carr Deborah 
Published: February 2014

AbstractWe provide a brief summary of the demography and epidemiology of death throughout the world in the early twenty‐first century. We then provide a brief overview of cross‐national variations in how death is perceived and how decedents are mourned. Finally, we conclude with an overview and cross‐national comparison of public policies and practices surrounding death, especially the use of palliative care at the end of life.
Health Psychology
Authors: Schroder Kerstin E. E. 
Published: February 2014

AbstractHealth psychology is concerned with the cognitive‐emotional and behavioral processes that impact health and illness, the prevention and management of disease, and health care effectiveness and utilization. Health psychology is based on the biopsychosocial model emphasizing health and disease as the result of the combined influence of physiological, psychological, and social‐environmental factors. Apart from illuminating these factors, health psychology provides the theoretical models that explain what motivates, facilitates, or hinders engagement in health‐promoting behaviors and that provide the theoretical rationale for the development of behavioral and psychosocial interventions. Health psychology emphasizes and applies methodological rigor in developing evidence‐based intervention solutions targeting the prevention and treatment of preventable acute and chronic diseases. Further, health psychology investigates the links between stress, coping, and disease; provides the background for an understanding of pain perception and pain management; examines the factors that affect patient adherence and patient–provider communication; and aids in the development of solutions toward an improved health care and chronic disease management. Future challenges include the development of programs to sustain the highest levels of functioning and independence in an increasing population of elderly patients suffering from multiple chronic diseases. Intervention solutions through eHealth provide a promising venue and an important field of study for the near future.
Genetics and Genomics in Public Health
Authors: Ambrosino Elena 
Published: February 2014

Abstract
Genetic and genomic sciences are constantly generating new information. They hold great potential to bring about new understanding of the causation of diseases and their pathways, and of the variations within a population that could account for the differences in health outcomes. At this point the extent of the impact of these discoveries on medical practice and public health is still hard to predict. Nevertheless, it is unquestionable that the dramatic increase in genetic and genomic information has the potential to greatly change the way that medicine is practiced and public health interventions are designed and implemented. Along with this enthusiasm, the new discoveries in the field also bring major challenges. The first is the lack of effective translation from scientific discoveries into health care. A second major challenge is that policies will have to be formulated that promote the safety, quality, and worldwide accessibility of such genetic tests and genome‐based services. Ensuring that genome‐based discoveries will in the future be implemented for the benefit of health across the globe is an imperative task. The integration of genetics and genomics into public and global health should therefore continue and be strengthened.
Technology
Authors: Berner Boel 
Published: February 2014

Abstract
Clinical practice, health care provision, and medical research cannot be performed without the help of a large variety of medical technologies, from neonatal technologies to technologies of aging and terminal care. Many are the results of recent technoscientific innovations in molecular biology or computer science, or of combinations of biotechnology and information technology. They are used for maintaining bodies with the help of machines, pills, devices, and “foreign” tissues and organs; for representing and visualizing bodies; and for reproductive purposes, both as contraceptive techniques and as techniques for infertility treatment, testing, and screening. Medical technologies evolve within social and political networks. They circulate globally in an international “technoscape” of medicines, devices, machines, procedures, and understandings. Their use may alter existing practices, cultures, and institutional structures, but they are also shaped by them and by a multitude of different actors, including medical professionals, regulators, multinational companies, and patient communities.
Patients
Authors: Konrad Monica 
Published: February 2014

AbstractExamples are provided to illustrate some of the ways in which recent medical anthropological research draws upon diverse theoretical approaches to analyze forms of patienthood. Attending to the ambiguities, dissonances, and limitations accompanying attempts to represent patient subjectivities in illness is shown to be one means by which to generate revised classifications of patients’ rights, identities, and social status. Just as the anthropological study of patient perspectives emphasizes the complexity and variability of interactions between social and medical domains, so the value of analytical complexity over reductionism is highlighted in knowledge acquisition processes for health care professionals and medical anthropologists alike.
Childbirth Practices
Authors: Clausen Jette Aaroe 
Published: February 2014

AbstractChildbirth is a highly medicalized field. It is a process monitored by professionals, and their intervention rates are high. Historically, normal birth was understood as birth without medical interventions; “normal birth” is an ambiguous concept in an environment where intervention rates are high and terms like “natural cesareans” have found their way into obstetric publications. There are different approaches to childbirth, like the medical model of care and the midwifery model of care. The medical model places little emphasis on the iatrogenic effects that follow from the use of interventions such as electronic fetal monitoring, active management of labor, and cesarean sections. The midwifery model of care subscribes to social support and non‐intervention in childbirth. The home and birth clinics are places that enhance the likelihood of spontaneous birth. Women's right to give birth at home has been tried at the European Court of Human Rights.
Adolescence and Stress
Authors: Rohrman Shawna 
Published: February 2014

AbstractThe stress that adolescents experience is different from that experienced by adults because they spend their lives in different social spheres than adolescents do. Research on adolescent stress and risk tends to follow an ecological model, which emphasizes the importance of social contexts for shaping youths’ well‐being. Three commonly discussed contexts are family, peers, and school. Stress manifests within each of these domains, but the domains are also interconnected. Stress may spill over from one context to another, and the social support youth receive in one sphere may help them cope with stress from other spheres.
Sexually Transmitted Infectious Diseases and Epidemics, Prevention of
Authors: A. Herlitz Claes 
Published: February 2014

Abstract
This entry gives a short description of the work designed to prevent sexually transmitted infectious diseases and epidemics worldwide, with the following five main sections: (1) some basic notes concerning the epidemiology of sexually transmitted infections and diseases; (2) a description of various measures to create a more safe‐sex behavior among the general public; (3) a survey of biomedical interventions; (4) a summary of structural factors obstructing successful preventive work, including an overview of social interventions undertaken; and (5) a discussion of challenges in future work to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections and diseases.
Health Care Delivery System: India
Authors: Modi Ishwar 
Published: February 2014

AbstractHealth care in India features a universal health care system run by the constituent states and territories of India. After Independence, India adopted the welfare state approach, and in pursuance of the same a large number of public hospitals and primary health centers (PHCs) were established all over the country. The basic health care delivery system in India is implemented through the PHCs and the auxiliary nurse midwives based therein. There exists considerable disparity in the state of health between rural and urban areas in India. The launch of the National Rural Health Mission attempted to bridge this gap and aimed to provide effective health care to India's rural population. It has also made a significant impact on health care delivery. However, like every rapidly developing country, India is faced with the challenge of how to manage growth with distribution, how to balance equity with efficiency, and how to ensure that as parts of the Indian health care sector enter the worldwide elite, the masses are not left behind. In spite of health remaining one of the most neglected aspects in India, it can hardly be overemphasized that the health care delivery system in India has made great strides in both the public and private sectors.
Health and Life Chances
Authors: Hinote Brian P. 
Published: February 2014

Abstract
Research in multiple disciplines provides ample evidence suggesting that health, and conversely disease, are about much more than individual‐level risk factors and disconnected choices among atomistic individuals freely moving within a particular society or set of social groups. Rather, individuals are inextricably embedded in multiple social contexts from the level of immediate experience and interaction (e.g., norms, roles, power, etc.) to broader social groups, institutions, and structures (e.g., neighborhoods, economy, health care, etc.). For individuals, this means that the ability to make specific choices among varieties of possible alternatives is constrained and enabled by specific sets of social opportunities. Put another way, rules and resources constrain behavior by limiting plausible or possible alternatives, while those same structures enable action by increasing the range of options from which individuals may choose. The concept of life chances conceptualizes these structures and the probabilities of choice that they influence.
Vital Statistics
Authors: Dingwall Robert 
Published: February 2014

AbstractVital statistics are the quantitative descriptions of the births and deaths of a given population within a given territory. These data are the bedrock of a great deal of the work on public health carried out by epidemiologists, public health specialists, and other social scientists interested in the condition of those populations. In modern times, they are compiled through official registration systems in accordance with various internationally agreed protocols, such as the International Classification of Diseases, which provides for causes of death to be reported in a standard format so as to permit cross‐national comparisons. However, these registration systems face formidable challenges in applying general coding rules to particular cases which may result in systematic biases that need to be understood if the statistics are to be correctly interpreted.
Health and Marxism
Authors: Scambler Graham 
Published: February 2014

Abstract
Marxist studies of health, health behaviors, and health care address not only the class origins of the “misdistribution” of health, but also class‐based systems of welfare and health care. Class exploitation is regarded as the prime cause of premature mortality among disadvantaged groups. There are certainly challenges facing Marxist medical sociologists in the twenty‐first century. Foremost among these is the need to redefine understanding of the forces and relations of production in the current phase of financial capitalism.
Health and Welfare Systems
Authors: Calnan Michael 
Published: February 2014

Abstract
Welfare systems embrace welfare in its broadest sense and include institutions, organizations, and resources that maintain or promote health care. The rationale for exploring welfare systems tends to lie with the need to carry out comparative study. There are numerous reasons for carrying out international comparative analysis, not least to address questions such as why funding and forms of provision of welfare and health care provision have varied between countries. Another common reason relates to exploring the experiences of and/or solutions adopted by other countries and examining how the lessons learnt from others can be used to improve welfare provision, that is, policy borrowing. This approach attempts to avoid policy failure by learning from the mistakes of other countries, and can also be used as ammunition to legitimize policies.
Stress and Disasters
Authors: Willigen Marieke Van 
Published: February 2014

AbstractDisasters are stressful in that they threaten lives, disrupt daily living, and uproot communities. Studies find that psychological distress is common after disasters and can (under certain circumstances) extend for long periods of time after the disaster has occurred. Yet, most people are psychologically resilient even in the face of catastrophic events. This entry focuses on research into the impacts of natural disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, tornados, volcanic eruptions, and floods. Disaster scholars argue that disasters are rooted in the social structure of societies; thus, impacts and responses to disasters vary by social group, circumstances, and community context. The most commonly observed psychological impacts of disasters in the literature are post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, with some attention to substance abuse. Some research has also examined physical impacts of stress after disaster, in particular myocardial infarction.