The Holistic Approach: Biomedical and Psychosocial Environmental. The concept of health and illness being separated into two models provides indication into the two very different but integral paradigms of how to treat patients deemed as needing care. These two models (known as the Biomedical Model and the Psychosocial Environmental Model) classify diagnosis, treatment and care in different ways which some actually share the same purpose. It is important in today’s society to be open to both models as both are used in all practices based on their similarities and their differences as they are able to “provide complimentary explanations rather than competing ones.”(Gilbert, L, Selikow, T & Walker, L., 2009:3). In terms of what is looked for in the Biomedical model, it is believed that there is one aetiology of the disease or illness exhibited in the patient who is then treated as a passive host of the illness where only the medical technology provided by the medical practitioner can hope to cure or at least care for the patient. While at one point in time this method of treatment seemed apt due to the knowledge of the world of that period, it is not a holistic approach of intervention because the main thought behind this model, as discussed by G. L. Engel (1977:129), is that because a disease or illness is characterized by “somatic parameters, physicians need not be concerned with psychosocial issues which lie outside medicine’s responsibility and authority.” This implies that following the Biomedical model, medical practitioners do not take into account the living situations, economic standpoints, racial, gender and ethical viewpoints or the community involvement factor of the patient seeking help. The Psychosocial Environmental m... ... middle of paper ... ...rkor. Retrieved February 16, 2014, from Encyclopedia Britannica: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/325852/kwashiorkor Engel, G. L. (1977). A Need for a New Medical Model: A Challenge for Biomedicine. Science , 196, 129-136. Fitzpatrick, R. M. (2009). Social and Changing Patterns of Disease. In L. S. Gilbert, Society, Health and Disease in a Time of HIV/AIDS (p. 25). South Africa: Pan Macmillan. Gilbert, L. S. (2009). Society, Health and Disease in a Time of HIV/AIDS. South Africa: Pan Macmillan. MedlinePlus, K. N. (2012, January 2). MedlinePlus. Retrieved February 16, 2014, from MedlinePlus Encyclopedia: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001604.htm Nettleton, S. (2009). Introduction: The Changing Domains of the Sociology of Health and Illness. In L. S. Gilbert, Society, Health and Disease in a Time of HIV/AIDS (p. 35). Pan Macmillan.
Taylor, S., & Field, D. (Eds.). (2007). Sociology of health and health care (4th ed.). Oxford: Blackwell.
In the past few decades, clinical treatment has moved on from biomedical approach to the biopsychosocial approach. Scientists now believe that health of an individual is not merely due to physiological conditions but may also depend on psychological and socio-cultural perspectives(Engel, 1977). The term health psychology was developed by the American Psychological Association to describe health and wellness issues that arise from psychological problems. Health psychology stems from Systems theory, which says that human events such as injury and illness exist within several interconnected systems, such as our peer relationships, childhood experiences, personality and other factors (Schwartz, 1982).
Spink, Gemma. "AIDS." AVERTing HIV and AIDS. 23 Dec 2009. Web. 11 Jan 2010. .
It considers the present and future impact of the AIDS epidemic on major demographic measures such as fertility, mortality, life expectancy, gender, age, and family structure. Although the sub-Saharan region accounts for just 10% of the world’s population, 67% (22.5 million) of the 33.4 million people living with HIV/AIDS in 1998 were residents of one of the 34 countries of sub-Saharan Africa, and of all AIDS deaths since the epidemic started, 83% have occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (Gilks, 1999, p. 180). Among children under age 15 living with HIV/AIDS, 90% live in sub-Saharan Africa, as do 95% of all AIDS orphans. In several of the 34 sub-Saharan nations, 1 out of every 4 adults is HIV-positive (UNAIDS, 1998, p. 1). Taxing low-income countries with health care systems inadequate to handle the burden of non-AIDS related illnesses, AIDS has devastated many of the sub-Saharan African economies.
The biomedical model of health has its foundations in Pasteurs (1822-1896) germ theory with Koch's (1843-1910) refinement to specific causative factors resulting in specific diseases (Germov, 2009, p. 11; Saggers & Gray, 2007, pp. 3-4). This singularity of cause became the basis of the biomedical model. Further based around the Cartesian theory of disease as a dysfunction of the body or it's parts as separate to the mind. Illness is considered to be independant of social or psychological influences; rather it is a deviance from objective measurements of normality (Germov, 2009, pp. 10 -11; White, 2004, p. 29). Individual behaviour known as social agency dominates the biomedical model, ignoring the structural aspects of individual lifestyle (Cockerham, 2005, pp. 51 & 53).
Taylor, S. & Field, D. (1997) Sociology of Health & Health Care. Blackwell Science: Oxford.
Bolognesi, Natasha. AIDS in Africa: A Question of Trust. Nature 443.7112 (12 Oct 2006): 626-627. Print.
There are various definitions of the medical model, Wikipedia, the internet encyclopaedia, currently defines it as ‘the predominant Western approach to illness, the body being a complex mechanism with illness understood in terms of causation and remediation, in contrast to holistic, and social models’.
As a result, the virus has greatly affected people in countries across the world, especially Africa. In Africa there are thousands of medical facilities in South Africa and they all have a high occupancy rating. In South Africa today, 80% of patients hospitalized in facilities have HIV (“Impact of HIV and AIDS...”). People working in these facilities such as doctors and nurses put themselves at risk because they are at risk for getting HIV related illnesses. In Africa there is a high demand for treatment of the disease and the hospitals have very low resources and training to treat HIV patients. When HIV first started there were very little resources to use for the patients that needed help.
In this paper I will be discussing the two most prevalent models of health. These two models of health are not, of course, total opposites. Similar to terms such as gay and straight they are two definitive labels placed upon a broad spectrum that is hardly definitive. There exists in this case as well a large clouded middle between the two limiting labels. These are collections of thoughts about how to go about continuing life. These two paradigms in modern healthcare I hope will one-day come to know one another. For now let us say that in generally speaking there are two different approaches or models of medicine and they are allopathic and holistic. Allopathic is another term for our modern western medicine, which in the United States is the dominant one and the one most familiar to the masses. The other, the holistic model, also known as alternative, is commonly associated with older ideas that originated in the East.
Human Immunodeficiency Virus better known as HIV is a lentivirus that causes Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system which allows life threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive. HIV was identified in 1983 and scientist started trying to understand where it came from, when it arisen, and why it spread so quickly. This day in time over 1.1 million people in the United States are living with HIV. CDC estimated that 1,144,500 persons aged 13 years and older are living with HIV infection. That statistics scares me because back in 1983 when HIV first arouse it was only commonly in gay Caucasian men, where as now HIV has no particular because they are seen in all genders, sexuality, and races there is. HIV has been responsible for the vast majority of AIDS cases worldwide. Patients testing positive for HIV have many factors that influences the infection risk, rate and prevention of their positive status. Socioeconomic Factors are some factors that can influence the risk, rate and prevention of HIV positive patients. A socioeconomic factor is the social and economic experiences and realities that help mold one’s personal lifestyle. The focus of my paper will be what socioeconomic factors that have a big impact on people with positive HIV statuses. This topic is an important topic because people living with HIV all seem to have common socioeconomic factors that have impacted their positive status in maybe a positive or negative way. These influences can range from where a person demographic location is such as in a rural area which is a geographic area located outside of cities and towns, ove...
accessed 12-04-2014. Reference: Sociology for AS AQA Ken B 4th edition ISBN-13:978-0-7456-5551-2(Pb). World health organisation cited in Haralambos and Holborn (2009) Sociology themes and perspectives: student handbook, seventh edition, London Collins Publishers. Taylor, S. and D. Field 2003 Sociology of Health.
Taylor, S. & Field, D. (1997) Sociology of Health and Health Care (2nd ed.) Blackwell Scientific.
Austin, S. Bryn. NCBI. U.S. National Library of Medicine, Sept. 2005. Web. 19 Nov. 2013. .
White, K. (2002) ‘Race, Ethnicity and Health’ in An introduction to the sociology of health and illness, London: SAGE.