Nursing assignment on: Health & illness

Introduction

The patterns and trends of health and illness prevailing in any country is the indicator of health status of the respective country. It is primarily used as an indicator of determining and measuring overall development of any country. Various national and international statistical organisations like Department of health, World Bank, United Nations Development programs, etc conduct studies on illness and health trends prevailing in various social groups in order to gain idea about the health status of respective country (Craft-Rosenberg and Pehler 2011).The underlying essay aims at investigating and identifying health and illness patterns prevailing in different social groups. The study aims at targeting and studying two social groups viz. gender and social class. The gender group includes men and women and social class includes working and middle class. The essay also aims at discussing different sociological perspectives in order to identify reasons behind health differences.

Explanation of the patterns and trends in health and illness among different social groupings

The patterns and trends explaining variation in the health and illness of men and women are life expectancy, mortality and morbidity rates. The life expectancy rate depicts the range and span of life of a particular individual or a class. The statistical organisations like UNDP, department of health conduct studies on life expectancies and revealed that life expectancy of men was 78 years while that of women was 82 years in 2010. The life expectancy rate of women was comparatively higher than those of men. The other studies revealed that although life expectancy rate for male and female members has increased considerably in recent years, yet the proportion of such increase varied significantly. The studies indicated that life expectancy of male members was increased by 2.5% while for female members it 3.7% (Life expectancy increases in England, especially for men 2010).The mortality rate is another way of showing differences in the health and illness pattern of men and women. The mortality rate is the indicator and measurement of death incidence in a population. It monitors and measures the number of deaths occurring in a population group. The mortality rate of men and women was 65 and 75 years respectively in US in 2010. The mortality rate of men was comparatively low as compared to those of women. The mortality rate increases gender gaps in US and led in inappropriate ratio of men and women (Why Men Die Younger than Women 2007).

The morbidity rate indicates and measures the state of being unhealthy or diseased in a population group. The rate offers a complete picture and incidence of ill and diseased health in a population. The statistic report of American Lung Association revealed that in 2006 proportion of lung cancer cases in men was 63.6 per 100,000 persons and 39.0 per 100,000 persons for women. The rate of lung cancer cases was increased significantly in 2008 for both men and women. However, the proportion varies for both population groups. It was about 70.2 and 50.5 for men and women respectively (American Lung Association. Lung Cancer Fact Sheet 2012).            Likewise, the working and middle class groups also pose significant variations in the health and illness patterns. Some of the manner and ways explaining differences in the health and illness patterns of working and middle class groups are health inequality, living environment differences, and difficulty in accessing medical facilities. The lack or difficulty in accessing medical facilities has made the working class people and their lives more susceptible to the diseases. A study conducted on cancer control treatment indicated that cancer survival rate was around 84% in US while it was only 22% in Gambia (Access to Cancer Treatment in Low- and Middle-Income Countries An Essential Part of Global Cancer Control 2010).The difference was due to the prevalence of middle and working class people in two countries. The US population contains majority of middle and higher income group capable of accessing expensive medical treatments and facilities. On the other hand, population of Gambia have majority of working class people facing difficulty in accessing medical facilities.            The black report published by Department of Health in UK highlighted that health inequality still exists in the middle and working class people although overall health status of the company has improved. The health inequality led the working class people to miserable life style lacking various health amenities and infrastructure. There is also considerable difference in the living environment of working and middle class people. The living environment of middle class people equipped with all basic amenities necessary for living a comfortable and healthy life. As compared to this, living environment of working class is quite unhygienic and leads to various health problems (Access to Cancer Treatment in Low- and Middle-Income Countries An Essential Part of Global Cancer Control 2010).

Different sociological perspectives for discussion patterns and trends of health and illness

            The patterns and trends of life expectancy, mortality and morbidity rates, demonstrates the differences prevailing in the health and illness patterns of men and women. The reasons responsible for differences in the life expectancy, mortality and morbidity rates of men and women are accorded to attitudinal and nature differences and prevailing working conditions. On the other hand, working and middle social class pose differences in the health and illness pattern on account of socio-economic disparity and low wages or incomes (Siegel 2009).The current decade has experienced various changes in the lifestyle and attitudes of men in relation to employment, care taking of their dependents, increasing career expectation, etc. The responsibilities and duties demand more flexibility and quick responsiveness from men thus leading them to spend and devote less time towards health issues.  These factors bring various changes in the nature and attitude of men and women towards life. The continuously rising expectations and goals provide less scope and time to men for managing and maintaining their health. The pressure of meeting goals and expectation also increased the cases of death of male members in younger ages due to heart diseases, cirrhosis, suicide, etc (Andersen and Taylor 2007).

The working environment of men and women present another manner or way of analysing and understanding about the differences prevailing in their health and illness pattern. The working environment of men contains greater risks and threats as compared to working environment of women. The women are usually working in a safe, reliable and less risky environment. The working conditions and environment of men also contains various hazardous materials resulting in various kinds of physical injuries and makes them more susceptible towards illness.            Similarly, reasons or the factor behind the differences in the pattern of health and illness of working and middle class are socio-economic disparity and low wages (Walsh 2004). The socio-economic disparity and low wages prevent the working class people from accessing medical health facilities, adopting a healthy and sustainable living environment and enjoying health equality with middle class people. The behaviour and lifestyle of working class people is significantly determined by such differences and results in negative health trends and illness.

Evaluation of sociological explanations for patterns of health and illness

The explanations given for the patterns of health and illness of men and women, working and middle social groups will be evaluated by collecting the reasons responsible for the inequality in the health and illness issues. The study will be done by making comparisons of patterns and trends of health and illness in gender and social class. The attitude of men towards their career is more positive than women (Thomas 2003). The level of comfort at workplace of both is studied to bring out the differences which create bad effect on health. According to the study the pressure of work, sustenance of family is more on men as compared to women. The expectation to remain flexible in job is high in case of men as compared to women. The medical and other services offered to working group are high as compared to middle social group. There is a difference in the flow of income which also forces the middle social class to ignore the health issues. The income level of working class is very low and limited in nature. It is due to the level of education, their upbringing, environmental set-up, family background, etc. The adoption of various bad habits is higher in middle class which in turn increases the inequality of health issues (Mooney, Knox and Schacht 2012).Conclusion

It can be concluded from the above discussion that the mortality, morbidity, life expectancy, health inequality, etc represents considerable differences in the health and illness pattern among selected social groupings. The differences in the health and illness patterns of two selected social group demand immediate steps to overcome such gaps. The manners along with the reasons or factors responsible for variations in health and illness indicates that both governmental and social steps are necessary to overcome socio-economic disparity and providing a sustainable living environment to all social group of society. The uniform and adequate health efforts are required for every social class and gender in order to enjoy and attain a healthy living status.

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