4. Explain the FOUR different approaches to health. Which one do you feel is a prevalent or dominant paradigm in promoting health in Canadian society? Explain why. Illustrate your answer with a current social/environmental problem or social/environmental issue.
The social sciences offer an enlarged understanding of the scope of health studies and health policy. In particular, sociology & political science have identified and investigated critical questions about the different meanings of health, the influence of public policy upon the organization and delivery of health care services, and upon the other factors that affect health. Paradigms, the ways we understand health, range from traditional concerns about clinical health care to an emphasis …show more content…
Health issues are viewed as behavioural risks. Such health issues include smoking, poor dietary habits, and lack of exercise. Interventions are delivered by employees of municipal and regional public health departments which use health education, social marketing, and advocacy for public policies supporting lifestyle choices (e.g. smoking bans, low fat meat production, bicycle paths, ad bans). Unlike the passive approach of the medical paradigm, this paradigm uses positive changes in behaviour, such as quitting smoking, as a preventative …show more content…
This is demonstrated by the very values of our health-care system. Healthcare professionals rely on patients to contact the system when they have noticeable symptoms. Budget wise, acute care allocates billions of dollars from the provincial government and a substantially lower amount for environmental public health. Health care cards are used to gain free access to primary and emergency care to get diagnosed and treated. Secondary resources for mental health and physical health are not often covered, and when they are, it’s usually physician diagnosis that allows them to become free. This system has excelled at providing—and needs to continue providing—reactive care in the context of acute illness however; this reactive approach to healthcare is both expensive and, to some degree, ineffective in meeting the needs of today’s population. In contrast, Environmental public health professionals do not use the medical paradigm as we do not focus on the individual; instead, we use both the behavioural/lifestyle paradigm and the socio-environmental paradigm. In events where we can directly influence health promotion, such as proper sanitation and clean environments, we can directly impact large groups of people by influencing positive behavioural changes and attempting to monitor low
The social sciences offer an enlarged understanding of the scope of health studies and health policy. In particular, sociology & political science have identified and investigated critical questions about the different meanings of health, the influence of public policy upon the organization and delivery of health care services, and upon the other factors that affect health. Paradigms, the ways we understand health, range from traditional concerns about clinical health care to an emphasis …show more content…
Health issues are viewed as behavioural risks. Such health issues include smoking, poor dietary habits, and lack of exercise. Interventions are delivered by employees of municipal and regional public health departments which use health education, social marketing, and advocacy for public policies supporting lifestyle choices (e.g. smoking bans, low fat meat production, bicycle paths, ad bans). Unlike the passive approach of the medical paradigm, this paradigm uses positive changes in behaviour, such as quitting smoking, as a preventative …show more content…
This is demonstrated by the very values of our health-care system. Healthcare professionals rely on patients to contact the system when they have noticeable symptoms. Budget wise, acute care allocates billions of dollars from the provincial government and a substantially lower amount for environmental public health. Health care cards are used to gain free access to primary and emergency care to get diagnosed and treated. Secondary resources for mental health and physical health are not often covered, and when they are, it’s usually physician diagnosis that allows them to become free. This system has excelled at providing—and needs to continue providing—reactive care in the context of acute illness however; this reactive approach to healthcare is both expensive and, to some degree, ineffective in meeting the needs of today’s population. In contrast, Environmental public health professionals do not use the medical paradigm as we do not focus on the individual; instead, we use both the behavioural/lifestyle paradigm and the socio-environmental paradigm. In events where we can directly influence health promotion, such as proper sanitation and clean environments, we can directly impact large groups of people by influencing positive behavioural changes and attempting to monitor low