Applying Medical Sociology

Applying Medical Sociology

Medical sociology is the study of cultural and social effects on health and medicine. It helps improve patients’ and caregivers’ management skills through critical analysis and interpretation of patients’ needs. With a degree in medical sociology, the graduate can venture into the following careers: community health worker, psychologist, or nurse. A community health worker will use the acquired knowledge to help identify and study social groups alongside maintaining and preserving health promotions. As a nurse, the medical sociology student will use his knowledge to provide quality patient care by understanding the individual patient’s needs in relation to the social context, how the patients view their environment, and their healthcare experience. Another discipline is that they choose to work as a psychologist. Here, they will use their knowledge to study the mind and behavior of a patient in relation to his social and cultural setup (Cockerham, 2017).

Theoretical approaches in medical sociology are functionalism, critical sociology, and symbolic interactionism. The functionalist approach views health as a critical component of stabilizing the community, and therefore, sickness is suctioned eccentricity. It helps in defining the appropriate behavior of patients and their caregivers. Critical sociology, on the other hand, suggests that healthcare problems are rooted in the capitalist society. Through this approach, health is attainable by working on the self to transform the self. The symbolic construction approach states that health and illness are a result of how society is constructed. Through this approach, society has to abstain from bad behaviors such as physical inactivity and smoking to attain good health (Carr, 2019).

Interpretive Methodology in sociology focuses on analysis that discloses meaningful practices of humans at scientific explanation centers. In this method, the researcher starts by seeking to allow priori to emerge from the encounters rather than starting with the concepts to determine a priori. Sociological skills can be hypothetically used to uncover interesting and relevant research questions, and they are appropriate for content-specific events (Wilson, 2017).

References

Carr, D. (2019). Medical Sociology. Notes, 56(2). https://www.asanet.org/files/winter-2019-2pdf-0

Cockerham, W. C. (2017). Medical sociology. Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315618692/medical-sociology-william-cockerham

Wilson, T. P. (2017). Normative and interpretive paradigms in sociology. In Everyday Life (pp. 57-79). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781351327329-3/normative-interpretive-paradigms-sociology-thomas-wilson 

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Medical Sociology

Drawing specifically from your reading and video material for this week, please address the following: First, describe in detail three important career positions that are available to students trained in medical sociology;

Second, name at least three theoretical approaches in medical sociology that are particularly important in modern medicine. Explain why these are valuable. Third, citing one specific methodological approach in sociology, explain how this method could be used to benefit both patients and healthcare providers. For example, how would a qualitative, ethnographic approach benefit the medical profession? Explain in detail. Finally, analyze how you, as a hypothetical medical professional might use your sociological training in the healthcare field.