Medical Sociology

Medical sociologists and sociologists of disability study similar topics but, because of competing or conflicting theoretical paradigms, tend to arrive at different conclusions, engage with different audiences, and pursue different directions for social change. Despite diverging trajectories over the past 20 years, however, there remains clear potential overlap between both subfields in the study of disability and untapped opportunities for cross-fertilization. Our purpose here is to place these literatures in conversation with each other. Toward this end, we identify major themes in the last 20 years of medical sociology scholarship, gaps with regard to disability in those themes, and possibilities (including methodologies) we see at the intersection of medical sociology and the sociology of disability that could address these gaps.

Head injury a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in children worldwide. The outlook of head injury still continues to be a major challenge in our part of the world. This study explored the predictors of outcome in pediatric head injury. All the patients from 1 day to 18 years admitted with head injury in different departments of Chitwan Medical College over the period of 5 years (2016/1/1 to 2020/12/31) were studied retrospectively. Data were collected from patient's record using semi-structured data collection performa and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The outcome of all these patients was assessed by Glasgow outcome scale and divided into favorable (normal, moderate disability) and unfavorable (severe, vegetative, dead) outcome. Outcome was assessed in relation to age, sex, mode of injury, diagnosis, surgical intervention, associated injury and GCS at admission. A total of 419 patients were included in the study comprising 69.2% males and 30.8% females, 36.8% were from age group 1-5 years (mean age 8.56 years S.D. 5.41). The common modes of injury were road traffic accidents (52.7%) followed by fall (43.4%). Highest number of patients had skull fracture (28.9%), followed by EDH (22.2%). Surgical interventions were required in 24.3% and 16.5% had other associated injuries. Majority of patients had mild head injury (63.5%), followed by moderate head injury (25.1%) and severe head injury (11.5%). Favorable outcome was seen in 95.2% while 4.8% had unfavorable outcome with mortality rate of 3.6%.Association between outcomes of head injury with diagnosis and severity of head injury were statistically significant (p<0.05). Outcome was greatly influenced by GCS at admission, as ratio of unfavorable outcome was greater with severe head injury.

In this article we examine the body&#39;s status in the complaints that patients filed with a compensation agency. Taking a corpus of letters, we analyse the way in which the patients mobilise their bodily experience from the angle of the damage for which they demand compensation. To this end, we articulate an approach in terms of the sociology of complaint with an approach rooted in the sociology of medicine, health and illness. To analyse the body narratives, we use the notion of loss. We highlight the manner in which patients approach their losses as &#39;losses in practice&#39;. These losses are defined by the patients putting forward the concrete experience of a body harmed by the treatment received, and by their formulation of expectations in terms of compensation. We therefore identify four ways in which the reality of the damaged body is given a form in terms of expectations of repair: the &#39;body-producer&#39;, the &#39;body-ecological&#39;, the &#39;body-help&#39; and th...

Le groupe d&#39;étude national sur le suicide au Canada suggère que les personnes qui vivent un deuil suite à un suicide forment un groupe à risque suicidaire. La littérature rapporte que ces endeuillés ont un taux de suicide neuf fois plus élevé que la population générale. Des auteurs suggèrent que ce type de deuil est plus intense et plus long que d&#39;autres formes de deuil, constat que d&#39;autres ont remis en doute. Qu&#39;en est-il? Le deuil suite à un suicide est-il différent? S&#39;agit-il d&#39;une expérience unique de deuil? Un examen attentif de l&#39;ensemble des études nous apprend que le deuil suite à un suicide présente des caractéristiques particulières, qui se manifestent davantage chez des personnes plus vulnérables.

Der kranke Körper ist die materielle ‚Grundlage‘ medizinischen Handelns. Diese ‚Grundlage‘ wurde im medizinischen Nachdenken über Ursachen und Verläufe von Krankheiten und die Möglichkeiten von Heilungsprozessen historisch immer wieder neu konzipiert: die Medizin hat über die Jahrhunderte etliche Körperkonzepte hervorgebracht.
Diese Konzepte reagierten jeweils auf zeitgenössische Themen und Überzeugungen: von der Annahme von Körpersäften oder einer großen Ordnung, die alles verbindet, einer grundsätzlichen Interdependenz von ‚Umwelt‘ und Körper (Lamarckismus) und vieles mehr wurde über die Jahrhunderte viel erdacht und diskutiert. Die philosophischen oder theologischen Topoi hatten lange Zeit großen Einfluss auf die medizinischen Theorien, bis ab der Frühen Neuzeit die entstehenden Naturwissenschaften mehr und mehr Impulse für ein anderes Körperverständnis lieferten.
Medizinische Körperkonzepte sind oft doppelt angelegt: sie erklären allgemein, wie der Körper funktioniert und sie erklären, was im Fall der Krankheit anders im Körper abläuft. Beide Ebenen verweisen aufeinander: Wenn Krankheit als Störung gedacht wird, muss man wissen, was wie gestört ist. Historische Körperkonzepte und zeitgenössische Pathogenitätstheorien verweisen aufeinander.

Amac : COVID-19 (2019 koronavirus hastaligi) pandemisi dunyada ve ulkemizde tum dikkatleri viruslere, virusler uzerindeki genetik modifikasyonlara ve asi calismalarina cevirmis bulunmaktadir. Bu calismada gen duzenleme teknolojileri ile ilintili bu klinik arastirma ve gelismeleri gozden gecirmek ve de COVID-19 asi calismalari ve asila(n)ma ile ilgili etik sorunlari ele almak amaclanmistir. Gerec ve Yontemler : Gen duzenleme teknolojilerine ve COVID-19 asi calismalarina dair guncel literatur; asi guvenligi, yeterli asi uretimi ve asiya erisim ile ilgili sorunlar, asilamada oncelikler ve toplum (suru) bagisikligi, ve de asi tereddutleri ve asi karsitligi uzerinden tartisilmistir. Bulgular : Bircok ulkede bilim insanlari SARS-CoV-2’ye (siddetli akut solunum sendromu koronavirusu 2) karsi etkili bir antiviral ilac ve asi bulabilmek icin yogun bir sekilde calismaktadir. En erken 2021’de kullanima girebilecegi tahmin edilen asilarin ne kadar koruma saglayacagi, uzun donem yan etkilerinin ...

Objetivo: Foi objetivo do estudo conhecer os sentimentos e emoções dos profissionais de enfermagem que sofreram acidente ocupacional com exposição a material biológico contaminado pelo vírus HIV. Métodos: Trata-se de um estudo do tipo descritivo, com abordagem qualitativa, sendo o local escolhido para a execução do estudo um Hospital Público de Doenças Infecciosas no Estado do Ceará. A coleta de dados foi feita em primeira etapa com pesquisa em fichas de notificação, e em segunda etapa com a aplicação de questionário. Resultados: Constatou-se a partir dos resultados, que na maioria das vezes os profissionais reagiam ao acidente, de maneira semelhante, demonstrando vários sentimentos e emoções como desespero, medo, ansiedade, preocupação, entre outros. Conclusão: Pudemos observar também que todos os sentimentos relacionados ao acidente se estendem também até o processo de espera do resultado dos exames que muitas vezes é tão angustiante quanto o próprio acidente.

Traditional acupuncturists&#39; quest for external legitimacy in Britain involves the standardization of their knowledge bases through the development of training schools and syllabi, formal educational structures, and, since the 1990s, the teaching of undergraduate courses within (or validated by) Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), a process which entails biomedical alignment of the curriculum. However, as holistic discourses were commonly used as a rhetorical strategy by CAM practitioners to distance themselves from biomedicine and as a source of public appeal, this &#39;mainstreaming&#39; process evoked practitioners&#39; concerns that their holistic claims are being compromised. An additional challenge is being posed by a group of academics and scientists in Britain who launched an attack on CAM courses taught in HEIs, accusing them of being &#39;unscientific&#39; and &#39;non-academic&#39; in nature. This paper explores the negotiation of all these challenges during the form...

The expression 'medically unexplained symptoms' is still widely used to indicate physical symptoms that are not attributable to any known conventionally defined disease. It is discursively related to several other concepts including somatisation, somatic symptom disorder (DSM 5), and functional somatic syndromes, which include the diagnoses of fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, multiple chemical sensitivity, and irritable bowel syndrome, among others. Some of these conditions are currently the object of controversies and political battles. This chapter examines what it can mean to approach this group of conditions 'pragmatically' by contrasting two different versions of pragmatism. One version, exemplified in social research that aligns itself with arguments proposed by some patient movements, is consistent with Rorty's 'epistemological behaviourism'. Another version, exemplified by a novel clinical intervention (the Symptoms Clinic) is consistent with William James' 'radical empiricism'. It is argued that these different approaches yield significantly different consequences. The first affords legitimacy to patients on an immediate and piecemeal basis at the expense of reinforcing a bifurcated mode of thought. This, it is argued, is a factor in (re)producing the experience of 'medically unexplained symptoms'. The second is premised on the assumption of a relational continuity between social structure, embodied experience, and physiology.

Population is growing rapidly & adoption of FP has been neglected by Govt. of Pakistan due to lack of services, awareness and education, traditional believes, employment & misconception. Mostly people think that the use of contraception methods is against the nature and Islam and is also harmful for health. So present study was designed in rural areas of Tehsil Dera Ghazi Khan in 2013 to investigate the knowledge level, adoption of contraception as well as to perceived positive and negative effects of contraception methods on the health of married females in rural community. 160 rural married females were interviewed to find out their demographic features; utilization of contraception and its side effects on their health in tehsil Dera Ghazi Khan. The data was analyzed by using Uni-variate (frequency distribution and percentage) and Bi-variate analysis (Chi square and Gamma Statistics) was carried out. Predominating age categories were &lt;15 and 16-20 years, 45.6% were illiterate, ...

Background: Abundant high-risk behaviors in trans-sexual people make it necessary to investigate. Objectives: This study aimed to describe and determine high-risk sexual behaviors. Materials and Methods: This study was cross-sectional. Ninety-six sex-reassigned transsexual individuals of both genders presenting to Salamat Bonyan Psychology Clinic were enrolled in the study. The sampling method was through the census. Eligible individuals were recruited using convenience sampling. The scales included a demographic characteristic form and a researcher-made questionnaire to evaluate high-risk behaviors and sexual health of sex-reassigned transsexual subjects. Descriptive statistics, including frequency distribution and also mean and standard deviation (SD), were used to describe. The SPSS software version 16 was used for data analysis. Results: According to the results, 96 individuals completed hormone therapy, of whom 43 underwent sex-reassignment surgery. Also, 73 persons were female...

Pandemia COVID-19 ukazała, jak duży wpływ na społeczne reakcje mają nie obiektywne dane, lecz subiektywne przekonania ludzi. Autor, bazując na konstrukcjonizmie społecznym, analizuje, w jaki sposób biowładza i medykalizacja oddziaływały na zachowania ludzi w czasach kryzysu COVID-19. W zarządzaniu reakcjami społecznymi ważnym czynnikiem stała się polityka informacyjna rządów, spójność w dyskursach ekspertów i biowładzy oraz konsekwencja w wyjaśnianiu prowadzonych działań. Trend w kierunku medykalizacji społeczeństw miał wiele wymiarów, w tym obejmował kreowanie polityki w oparciu o ekspercką władzę-wiedzę, stosowanie obostrzeń epidemicznych, zalecanie szczepień itd. Jednak podejście to spotkało się z oporem społecznym, wynikającym z poczucia frustracji, nierówności społecznych, braku zaufania do elit, niezrozumienia dyskursu medycznego przez zwykłych obywateli oraz narastającej tendencji do demedykalizacji, stanowiącej m.in. efekt inicjatyw antyszczepionkowych. W artykule zawarto an...

Computer software plays a crucial role in the health sector, facilitating effective management of medical records, enhancing the delivery of services, and improving patient outcomes through advanced diagnostic equipment. Cardiovascular disease poses a significant challenge for the medical community in the contemporary era, emerging as the leading cause of mortality. The healthcare business collects substantial quantities of health data that, however, cannot be effectively utilised for informed decision-making. Data mining techniques are employed to analyse large datasets in order to extract valuable information from vast amounts of data. This study aims to provide motivation for the development of an intelligent classification system for heart disease, utilising data mining techniques with a smaller set of characteristics or attributes. The K-nearest neighbour and FuzzyK-nearest neighbour classifier algorithms are employed in conjunction with evolutionary search and symmetric uncertainty attribute evaluator techniques to enhance the process of feature selection. The experimental findings demonstrate that each technique possesses distinct benefits in effectively meeting the objectives of cardiac disease detection with a high level of precision. The results collected indicate that the K-nearest neighbours (KNN) algorithm has demonstrated superior performance compared to the Fuzzy-KNN algorithm. The analysis further unveiled that K-nearest neighbours (KNN) regularly exhibited commendable accuracy while employing the symmetric uncertainty measure.

SummaryTwo recent articles, ‘The trouble with NHS psychiatry in England’ and ‘Wake-up call for British psychiatry’ have levelled severe criticisms against the NHS provider systems for people with mental disorders. In response, we argue that such severe criticisms are not fully justified. We propose that there are six areas for debate: ideological matters, policy intentions, empirical questions, operational issues and professional activities. Under this simple six-point taxonomy it might be possible to have a more sophisticated debate about how all parties should work together to achieve the best outcomes for patients.

This article reports on a qualitative study in a materially deprived locality in northern England, which originally aimed to explore local residents’ views of proposed changes to local health care provision. However, participants also quickly moved the research agenda onto widespread discussions of (mis)trust. Unlike much sociological literature that defines trust as operating on two levels (inter-personal and system-based), their narratives of trust were constructed on several inter-connected levels. We explore mistrust in local general practitioners (GPs) as a factor of mistrust of a number of local and national organizations and social systems, rather than solely related to the medical system. Widespread mistrust of ‘authority’ was narrated through a shared history of disinvestment and loss of services in the locality and ‘broken promises’ by a range of institutions, which precipitated feelings of social exclusion and disembeddedness.

Figuring out what pushes individuals to become organ donors has become the holy grail of social scientists interested in transplantations. In this paper I concentrate on solidarity as a determinant of organ donation and examine it through the history of organ donation in Israel. By following the history of transplantation policies since 1968 and examining them in relation to different types of solidarities, this paper leads to a nuanced understanding of the ties between solidarity and health policy. Attempts to foster an all-encompassing consensus on the definition of brain death yielded the Transplantation and the Brain-Respiratory Death Laws of 2008. It was hoped that a wide “civic solidarity” would render Israel self-sufficient in its organ economy. However, the failure of the law led to the breakdown of civic solidarity in organ donation. As a result, initiatives such as the priority policy and non-directed living organ donations, developed out of a narrower conception of solida...

Title: Methods of variable analysis in dementia which is associated with adults chronic hidrocephalia. Abstract: In this investigation we show some methods of analysis about those variables and behaviours which are associated with the HCA. The study was made starting from the clinical revision of 34 patiens(range of 50 - 82 years old). A methodology based on the categoric analysis

Die Broschüre versammelt Beiträge von Studierenden, die im Kontext des Proseminars «Emanzipationstheorien und Geschlecht» im Fachbereich Geschlechterforschung der Universität Basel unter der Leitung von Anika Thym im Frühjahrsemester 2023 entstanden sind. Dazu zählen Geschichten, Gedichte, Theaterskripte, Podcast Transkripte und Collagen zu emanzipatorischen alternativen (Kolonial)Geschichten zur Revolution in Haiti und zu Utopien bezogen auf Geschlecht, Sexualität und darüber hinaus. Die Broschüre soll auch einen Beitrag zu inklusiver, differenzsensibler und transformativer Lehre sein.

Objectives: This study aims to explore the role of consultation and relational empathy (CARE) and sociodemographic profile as predictors of patients' satisfaction among pregnant women attending antenatal care (ANC) in selected public primary health facilities in rural sub-districts of Saki, Oyo State, Nigeria. Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited a total of 582 pregnant women in four primary health centers. Expectant mothers responded to a questionnaire covering demographic characteristics, clinic visitation, CARE, and patients' satisfaction. All data was analyzed using descriptive, univariate and multivariate statistical tools. P < 0.05 level was considered statistically significance. Results: Findings revealed that the participants had a mean age of 23.15 ± 5.23 years. The pattern of patients' satisfaction revealed that 13.40% (78/582) were highly satisfied with the health care received compared to 86.60% (504/582) with moderate to low satisfaction ratings with ANC. Highly satisfied patients placed higher value on technical quality, interpersonal relation, communication, financial aspects, time spent and accessibility convenience (P = 0.001). Multiple linear regression model indicated that relational empathy (= 0.28, P < 0.001), 2nd trimester of pregnancy (= 0.13, P = 0.01), age categories of 30-< 40 years (= − 0.12, P = 0.02), and 40-< 50 years (= − 0.11, P = 0.04), religious affiliation (= 0.10, P = 0.03) predicted satisfaction with ANC. Conclusion: Low patients' satisfaction with antenatal healthcare services resulting from hostile attitudes from health workers has implication for the delivery and acceptability of services offered to eradicate maternal mortality globally. Thus, regular training and retraining of health care personnel in frequent contact and interaction with patients will go a long way in reducing untoward work attitude and maternal mortality in rural ANC centers globally.

The term transgender is used to characterize people whose gender expression—the way a person communicates their gender—is considered nontraditional for their sex or gender and to characterize people whose gender identity—a person’s psychological identifi cation of gender—is diff erent from their sex assigned at birth. Importantly, a transgender identity can diff er from a person’s sexual orientation; one can be gay, lesbian, or heterosexual, for example, and also have a transgender identity. In 2011, healthcare inequalities for transgender people were acknowledged as a critical area of research by the Institute of Medicine (Institute of Medicine of Th e National Academies, March 2011, p. 3). In 2014, the Hastings Center Report published a supplement further documenting these inequalities and analyzing, from an ethics point of view, some model progress in access and healthcare infrastructure innovation (Davis & Berlinger, 2014, p. S45). Also in 2014, the American Journal of Public He...

Variables borrowed from the literature analyzing the middle years of American adults are used to pose questions and suggest answers regarding the mid-life organizational stage of development of sociological practice (applied and clinical) as a professional subspecialization within the discipline Comparisons are made. Issues are raised which require a response and a resolution if sociological practice is both to survive and surpass the potential pitfalls of its organizational mid-life crisis

O objetivo do artigo consistiu em discutir a medicalização do risco para a psicose; especificamente, a construção de uma nova categoria diagnóstica que vem sendo realizada pela força-tarefa de elaboração do DSM-5, nomeada &quot;síndrome de risco para a psicose&quot; e, mais recentemente, &quot;síndrome dos sintomas psicóticos atenuados&quot;. A metodologia utilizada foi a revisão bibliográfica. Foi realizado um breve relato da genealogia do risco na psiquiatria. Na parte inicial do artigo, procurou-se discutir a medicalização de uma forma mais geral, focando sobre os aspectos do controle social e das tecnologias do self, sob uma ótica foucaultiana. Posteriormente, foi dada ênfase ao processo da medicalização do risco para a psicose; em especial, à construção de uma categoria relacionada a esse risco. Dentre os alcances desse processo, destacou-se a possibilidade de se intervir precocemente na psicose e com isso retardar seu início. Ainda não está claro se a intervenção precoce pode ...