Health and Illness

• Acupuncture: Ancient Chinese art based on the theory that energy in the body can be stimulated by inserting fine needles into the body.
• Aetiology: The study of causation of a disease/condition.
• Ageism: Prejudice or discrimination on the grounds of a persons age.
• Alternative medicine: Any medical therapy that is not considered orthodox by the medical profession.
• Artefact approach: the existence of health inequalities as simply an artefact of the measurement system used
• Biomedical model: A model of health that excludes psychological and social factors and includes only biological factors in an attempt to understand illness.
• Birth rate: The number of babies born per thousand per year.
• Complementary medicine: Alternative medicines which are used alongside the treatment of disease.
• Demography: The study of statistics which illustrate the changing structure of human populations.
• Disability: A physical or mental condition which limits a person's movements, senses or activities.
• Disease: A biological or mental condition which usually involves medically diagnosed symptoms.
• Dominant ideology: The attitudes and beliefs shared by the majority of a population
• Esoteric: Information accessible to only a few eg Doctors have medical knowledge accessible to them only.
• Fertility rate: The average number of children born to a woman between the ages of
• Functional prerequites: Basic needs (food, shelter, clothing, and money) that an individual requires to live above the poverty line and the factors that allow a society to maintain social order.
• General practitioner: A doctor within a community who treats minor illnesses and refers those with serious conditions to a hospital.
• Grand narrative: Postmodern concept that refers to any area of knowledge that claims to offer complete explanations.
• Health: The absence of disease and the complete physical, mental, spiritual and social well being.
• Health authorities: A state or territory that is responsible for public health.
• Homeopath: A system of treating disease by prescribing minute doese of a drug that in large quantities would cause illness.
• Illness: A subjective feeling of being unwell. May not represent the presence of a disease.
• Impairment: The state of being diminished, weakened, or damaged, especially mentally or physically.
• Infant mortality rate: The number of children who die before their first birthday, per thousand per year.
• Lay definitions of health: Commonly held ideas about health and illness - not by doctors.
• Life expectancy: The number of years a new born baby can expect to live.
• Marginalisation: occurs when certain groups of people get denied access to areas of society.
• Master status: If you are labelled as a criminal, prosititue or mental patient, this overrides any other social status.
• Mental illness: A condition that cuases a serious disorder in a persons thinking or behaviour. This may disrupt their functioning of everyday life.
• Obesity: A medical term for being overweight.
• Personal tradegy: A term used by Oliver to describe the way disability is seen as a personal as opposed to a social problem.
• Postnatal clinic: Clinics for women to attend after giving birth.
• Postmodernism: an approach that attempts to define how society has progressed to an era beyond modernity.
• Preventative medicine: Preventing becoming ill in the first place or detecting disease early.
• Presenting culture: The way in which people choose to portray themselves to others through their language, accent, hair and clothing styles.
• Professionalisation: A tactic used by occupational groups to gain prestige and financial rewards.
• Psychoanalytic approach: A branch of psychology which seeks to liberate patients from unconscious thoughts and fears that inhibit their freedom.
• Reiki: A Japanese technique in which the practitoner channels spiritual energy to promote the body's own capacity to heal itself.
• Self fulfilling prophecy: predictions made by others (e.g. teachers) about the future success or failure of a person / student will tend to come true because that prediction has been made.
• Sick role: according to Parsons's when somebody is diagnosed they enter this role. Freeing them from some social expectations (e.g., work) and blame for being sick, while they temporarily occupied the role
• Social capital: A network of social contacts. For example being friends with a doctor, nurse, teacher can be an advantage to you.