SOCY 2000 - Sociology of Health & Human Behavior

Credit Hours: 4.00

Objectives:

1. Describe the connection between social class and heart disease.
2. Explain the difference between illness and disease.
3. Identify critical social factors that prevent illness.

Outcome 2:
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to recognize the sociological perspective within health professions, health care institutions, as well as professional roles and ideologies.

Objectives:

1. Describe the manner in which the medical profession became a model of professionalization.
2. Describe the professional status of physicians today.
3. Identify major aspects of the past that have carried over to shape hospital today.
4. Explain the hospital patient role.

Outcome 3:
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to describe health systems within a global context.

Objectives:

1. Describe and categorize four systems of health care that exist globally.
2. List five characteristics of each system.
3. List countries that have implemented the system.
4. Compare and contrast each system.

Outcome 4:
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to describe forces within the health care field and society leading to increased government participation in the delivery of health care.

Objectives:

1. List and explain types of government intervention.
2. Describe loss of autonomy among doctors.
3. Discuss hospital flow charts.

Outcome 5: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to demonstrate overall knowledge of healing options or alternative care.

Objectives:

1. List types of alternative healers and alternative medicine.
2. Explain chiropractors, folk healers, and faith healers.
3. Explain acupressure, aromatic oils, diet supplements.
4. Explain medical treatment as being compatible with beliefs of various cultures.

• Communication: The graduate can communicate effectively for the intended purpose and audience.
• Critical Thinking: The graduate can make informed decisions after analyzing information or evidence related to the issue.
• Global Literacy: The graduate can analyze human behavior or experiences through cultural, social, political, or economic perspectives.
• Information Literacy: The graduate can responsibly use information gathered from a variety of formats in order to complete a task.
• Quantitative Reasoning: The graduate can apply quantitative methods or evidence to solve problems or make judgments.
• Scientific Literacy: The graduate can produce or interpret scientific information presented in a variety of formats.

1. Medicine and Sociology
   1. Lifestyle problems and how the Medical Model views these problems as an illness.
      1. Social class health and illness
      2. Medical ghettos
      3. Social aspects of eating disorders
      4. Alcoholism ‐ disease model vs. social factors
2. Epidemiology
   1. AIDS ‐ the impending quarantine ‐ video
   2. Complexity of modern ills
      1. Exercise and health
      2. Heart disease
   3. HME perspective
      1. Epidemiology of hypertension
3. Social Demography of Health
   1. Gender differences
      1. Depression
      2. Suicide
      3. Mental illness
   2. Therapy ‐ Sexist or fair? Psychoanalytic therapy
   3. Why do women live longer than men?
   4. Social class and mental disorder
4. Physicians, Patients, and Medical Care Illness Behavior
   1. Talcott Parsons sick role
      1. Illness as a deviance
      2. Critique of the sick role
      3. Factors affecting decision to seek the sick status
   2. Labeling theory
      1. Critique of labeling theory
   3. Health belief model
      1. Help seeking
      2. Responses
5. Medical Socialization and the Medical Profession
   1. Medical school experience
   2. Power relationships
   3. Authority
   4. Oral presentation
6. Social Control over the Medical Profession
   1. License to err 7‐part series written by Dolly Katz
7. Health Occupations
   1. Chiropractors
   2. Pharmacists
   3. Optometrists
   4. Osteopaths
   5. Nurses
8. The Hospital
   1. Forms of hospitals
      1. General hospitals
      2. Specialty hospitals
      3. Hospital as a large‐scale organization
9. Health Policy in Selected Countries
   1. Sweden
   2. Russia
   3. Great Britain
   4. Japan
   5. Borderline medicine Canada (video)
10. Special Issues
    1. Mental illness
    2. Factors in mental illness
       1. Social class
       2. Child rearing patterns (video ‐ Child of Rage)
       3. Homosexuality
11. Biomedical Innovation
    1. Life support system
    2. Concepts of death
    3. Organ transplants
12. Health Care in the U.S
    1. Six myths of American medical care
    2. Fee for service system
    3. DRGs (Diagnosis‐Relate d Groups)