BIOMEDICAL AND SOCIAL MODELS OF HEALTH

Biomedical and social models of health



Biomedical and social models of health

For our society to develop an understanding of health and how to improve it, we fie our definition of health, the four main ones that influence lay definitions are age, culture have to define health and what it is to be healthy. There are many factors that influence, gender and social class. There are also different models of health that professionals use when deciding whether someone is healthy or not. In the western world we use the biomedical model, which scientifically measures someone's health to decide whether illness is present. Though in other cultures the body and mind co-exist, and an understanding of the body and mental state are looked at together. The world health organisation had defined health as “A complete state of physical, mental and social well being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. Some critiques argue that this definition is too idealistic and including the word complete means people can not remain in this state for any length of time (Light, 2006).

In the western world, it is doctors that decide whether a person is suffering with an illness. The model they use to determine illness is known as the biomedical model. It looks at the body as a machine, and determines whether a person is suffering from an illness or disease by scientific measures. Talcott Parsons (1975) believes that society controls the deviant of being ill , through a device known as a sick role. When a person feels unwell, it takes a person with authority, usually a doctor though in the case of a child it is sometimes a parent, to confirm their illness. If this is not done, then the patient does not obtain the rights and obligations that a sick person needs to be accepted as ill in our society. The rights, mean they can be exempt from their normal duties such as going to work, school or college, they can also be excused from their normal daily tasks and social functions. The obligations, are to get well as soon as possible and to obtain help and to follow the advice they have been given to help them get well. If they do not carry out these tasks, they can be seen as malingering, as people are who have not had their sick role confirmed.

As we now define illness using the biomedical model, our attitudes and how we define disabilities has now changed. Finkelstein (1980) states that disability has come about due to the industrialization of the workforce, the introduction of machinery meant that people who were unable to work these machines, were seen as a burden and needed looking after. Every person is society, has different abilities, strengths and weaknesses, yet a person with a specific impairment is seen as disabled. It is often society, that has caused their impairment to be disabling. Michael Oliver (1996) points out that impediments opposed by society are ...