sociology

1024 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASES

There has been a lack of study based upon the illness of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and how individuals that suffer from this disease actually account for their illness. COPD, is a chronic respiratory disorder in which cigarette smoking is a major contributor. Although other studies that have been conducted attempt to present the view of cigarette smoking from the perspective of the smoker themselves, they generally highlight the ‘multiple and often contradictory agendas of everyday life, smoking and health’ (McKie et al. 2003: 83). However, there are much fewer studies that research those illnesses that have a wide-known cause and contributor and investigate the perspective of the people affected and how they explain the cause of their disease.

Hansen, Walters and Baker (2007) through their research study aim to research this topic and discover whether those diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) view smoking as a primary factor and contributor for their illness and the impact of COPD on their everyday lives. These researchers attempted to discover whether individuals whom made lifestyle choices to smoke use other factors in explanations for their illness, due to a reluctance of those individuals to accept that their lifestyle choices could be a cause of their disease.

The respondents were found through two GPs in Australia whom had a database of those with COPD and had prescribing medicine. Those with cognitive impairment or another serious medical condition were excluded and those invited had the chance to agree to participate. This was appropriate as it ensured that other factors would not limit the result of the research in that all participants are of sane mind and can formulate a...

... middle of paper ...

...ir health was in a damaging state, and excluding those of other backgrounds and higher levels of education.

This research study has provided a key contribution to the sociology of health and medicine. It identified that there are illnesses and diseases in which a great portion of society is suffering which is not being regarded as serious as it should be. The term COPD is not used as it as a relatively new term and there are individuals suffering from chronic illnesses such as COPD whom think that they simply have a mild form of asthma. Furthermore, this leads to individuals that are not considering the maintenance of their health as a priority, instead considering it as a result of aging. Lastly, lifestyle activities such as smoking which is a major health risk and main contributor to the cause of COPD is not being communicated through the GPs to their patients.

Show More
Related

  • Picot Case Study Nursing

    507 Words  | 2 Pages

    I felt the best way to answer this issue was to gain a better understanding of both COPD and why patients found it hard to break the habit of smoking and what methods had been most successful in helping smokers to become

    Read More

  • Nursing Case Study: Chronic Obstructive Disease

    903 Words  | 2 Pages

    To effectively manage COPD it is essential for patients to monitor themselves by writing a list of dates and times when experiencing symptoms and reactions to treatments. (Lung Chicago Managing COPD, 2016). Understanding a patient’s personal disease characteristics will help in determining treatment to prevent exacerbations. To maintain stable condition of the disease, COPD patients need to understand and reduce risk factors. Counseling programs such as smoking cessations need to be available for COPD patients as part of their treatment. Pharmacotherapy for the disease is also used to reduce its symptoms and difficulties on

    Read More

  • Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

    3105 Words  | 7 Pages

    Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is preventable disease that has a detrimental effects on both the airway and lung parenchyma (Nazir & Erbland, 2009). COPD categorises emphysema and chronic bronchitis, both of which are characterised by a reduced maximum expiratory flow and slow but forced emptying of the lungs (Jeffery 1998). The disease has the one of the highest number of fatalities in the developed world due to the ever increasing amount of tobacco smokers and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality (Marx, Hockberger & Walls, 2014). Signs and symptoms that indicate the presence of the disease include a productive cough, wheezing, dyspnoea and predisposing risk factors (Edelman et al., 1992). The diagnosis of COPD is predominantly based on the results of a lung function assessment (Larsson, 2007). Chronic bronchitis is differentiated from emphysema by it's presentation of a productive cough present for a minimum of three months in two consecutive years that cannot be attributed to other pulmonary or cardiac causes (Marx, Hockberger & Walls, 2014) (Viegi et al., 2007). Whereas emphysema is defined pathologically as as the irreversible destruction without obvious fibrosis of the lung alveoli (Marx, Hockberger & Walls, 2014) (Veigi et al., 2007).It is common for emphysema and chronic bronchitis to be diagnosed concurrently owing to the similarities between the diseases (Marx, Hockberger & Walls, 2014).

    Read More

  • Exacerbation Of Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (COD)

    939 Words  | 2 Pages

    This assignment will examine the case of a man admitted to hospital with an exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Firstly there will be a definition of COPD and COPD exacerbation. Then there will be a short discussion of how the patient’s data relates to pathophysiology of COPD exacerbation. This information is used to decide what the patient’s first two priority problems are, and two nurse interventions used to best treat those problems.

    Read More

  • Sociological Analysis of the Media

    1675 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the year 2000, smoking has fallen out of public favour and is seen as an undesirable social and physical health hab...

    Read More

  • Mr. A's Diabetes Case Study

    1278 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mr. A is burdened with both of these diseases and he may suffer from further complications in the future do to his condition. Public health education campaigns can inform Mr. A that he is experiencing a pre-contemplation behavioural stage in which he is not aware of a need to change his current lifestyle. As previously stated, the case shows that study Mr. A is not currently living a lifestyle that supports the management of his current health conditions. In conjunction with the transtheoretical theory, health campaigns can inform Mr A about his diagnosed conditions and encourage him to change his habits by understanding the 6 behavioural stages. Although the transtheoretical model of can be beneficial in educating Mr. A’s behaviour. Addition of maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory would yield a better outcome for Mr. A by explaining why he has not currently changed his behaviour. Communities can additionally help to support Mr. A by taking on the role of facilitating, participating, fundraising and volunteering in health promotions. With the amalgamation of the knowledge of behavioural theories, exposure to multimodal education campaigns and communities participating in health education interventions, Mr. A can be informed if his current health

    Read More

  • Journal Club Assignment Exercise

    1049 Words  | 3 Pages

    The trial consist of patient who were 35 years old or older with clinical diagnosis of mild to moderate COPD (confirmed FEV1/FVC LESS 70% and FEV1 % predicted normal value greater or equal to 50% and willingly to stop smoking. Participants has higher percentage of male and Caucasians populations, smoked for an average of 40 years also smoked 10 or more cigarettes per day over the past year. Participants treated with systematic steroids or hospitalized for COPD exacerbation during the 4 week period were excluded. Aslo excluded are participants with uncontrolled medical

    Read More

  • sociology

    1877 Words  | 4 Pages

    This essay will be explaining the definition of sociology, the sociological factors of obesity using Symbolic Interactionism Theory and the Functionalism Theory and a description of the medical condition obesity and how it may affect individuals suffering from it.

    Read More

  • Public Health Issue: Smoking

    2016 Words  | 5 Pages

    This essay is aimed to explore, analyse and discuss smoking in adults. Smoking is a public health issue as such is one of the major contributors to high mortality and ill-health in the adults which is preventable (Health and Excellence Care (NICE) (2012). The United Kingdom (UK) is known to have the highest number of people with a history of smoking among people with low socio-economic status (Scriven and Garman, 2006; Goddard and Green, 2005). Smoking is considered a serious epidemic in the UK and the National institute for Health and Excellence Care (NICE, 2012) stated that 28% of adults with low economic status are tobacco smokers compared with 13% of those with economic status or having professional incomes. Furthermore almost 80,000 people died in England in 2011 as a result of smoking related issues and 9,500 admissions of children died due to being second hand smokers (WHO, 2005). This essay focuses on definition of smoking, the aim is to underline the relationship between smoking and the determinants of health and then, the size, prevalence, and morbidity trend of smoking will be explored. Furthermore, some public health policies introduced to confront the issues around smoking will be investigated and finally, the roles of nurses will identify health needs the public so as to promote good health and their wellbeing.

    Read More

  • Acute Exacerbation in Copd

    672 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mrs. Jones has a history of COPD. She was already taking albuterol for her illness and it was ineffective when she took it that day. Mrs. Jones had been a smoker but had quit several years ago. According to Chojnowski (2003), smoking is a major causative factor in the development of COPD. Mrs. Jones's primary provider stated that she had a mixed type of COPD. The Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) was established to address the growing problem of COPD. The GOLD standards identify three conditions that contribute to the structural changes found in COPD: Chronic bronchiolitis, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis. A mixed diagnosis means that the patient has a combination of these conditions (D., Chojnowski, 2003). Mrs. Jones chronically displayed the characteristic symptoms of COPD. "The characteristic symptoms are cough, sputum production, dyspnea on exertion, and decreased exercise tolerance." (D., Chojnowski, 2003, p. 27).

    Read More

  • Understanding Social Factors in Health

    2326 Words  | 5 Pages

    To begin with, society and social factors have increasingly been investigated as they have been thought of as crucial components to understand health. This tendency was derived by the inefficiency of the traditional model of health, the biomedical model, in many situations to manage some diseases such as communicable diseases (Browne, Health and Illness, 2005). Disease was predominantly attributed to proximal biological factors identified by doctors according to the classical model accepted in the nineteenth century. Therefore, this model seems to be inadequate to explain the differences in health outcomes between social strata. Despite the fact that health currently could be defined differently depending upon factors such as sex and age, it is generally believed now that it combines physical, mental and social well being of individuals (Blaxter, 2001).

    Read More

  • A Discussion of Emphysema and COPD

    1252 Words  | 3 Pages

    Breathing in and out is an innate behavior that we are born with; also, it is a behavior that people take for granted. Let’s say, people who smoke think a cough, or a cough with phlegm is a sign that they are about to get a cold, but then again it can be a sign of a potential health problem like emphysema, asthma, or tuberculosis. People smoke for different reasons; nevertheless, it is an addiction that they can recover from. It may take them several tries to quit smoking, but they can quit. People don’t think about the harm that they are putting on their lungs and alveoli when they put a cigarette to their mouth. For example, many long time smokers are diagnose with emphysema every minute. Emphysema is an example of a chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) that has causes numerous deaths and disabilities in the United States of America. Also, smoking is the number one causes of death in developed countries.

    Read More

  • Smoking Essay

    526 Words  | 2 Pages

    Smoking has became a major issue everywhere in the world. The effects of cigarette smoking can be really terrifying as smoking is dangerous not only to those who smoke but as well as the non-smokers. Tobacco from a cigarette contains nicotine, which is a highly addictive drug that makes it difficult for the smokers to stop smoking. (MentalHelp, 2005). They are not only physically addicted to nicotine but they also link smoking with many social activities which makes it hard to stop (American Lung Association, 2014). Smoking is a habit that causes many health implications that could lead to death (American Lung Association, 2014). Most of the smokers started smoking regularly at a young age even though there are various anti-smoking campaigns being run. (American Lung Association, 2014). Most teenagers start smoking because they are being exposed under friends and family members who smoke. They tend to be curious and say that they just wanted to try it or teenagers started smoking because they thought it was cool to do so (American Cancer Society, 2014). Quitting smoking requires seve...

    Read More

  • Second Hand Smoke

    649 Words  | 2 Pages

    Second Hand Smoke In the 1950's and 60's scientists gave the people a lot of evidence on the deadly effects of smoking where the tobacco companies on the other hand tried to put the doubt in people’s minds through the campaigns to show that it is not all true. By the time people actually decided to take care of their health and finally saw how life-threatening smoking could be by real life examples, the tobacco companies already got rich from its sales. Nowadays, nobody doubts that “firsthand” smoke is deadly to your health and it causes lung cancer and heart disease in adults and asthma and bronchitis in children. Now the industry is onto the secondhand smoke. Scientists and researchers are representing a lot of evidence and research that has been done throughout the years showing that the secondhand smoke can also cause a lung cancer in nonsmokers. The study has been done of people who have been long exposed to secondhand smoke and it shows that 26 out of 33 published studies indicate a link between secondhand smoke and lung cancer. The study estimates that the people that were breathing secondhand smoke were 8 to 150 percent more likely to get lung cancer. The tobacco companies are trying to argue the facts and are still in serious debate about the health hazards of breathing a secondhand smoke. A lot of anti-smoking organizations are trying to turn smoking in public into a private activity that does not have to involve nonsmokers breathing secondhand smoke. What is even more important is that many of these organizations convinced a lot of smokers to cut back or quit completely. The problem of secondhand smoke is increasing because it is so common in our society. It makes secondhand smoke the third-ranking cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers. Mothers who live with a smoking spouse have to realize the ill effects of secondhand smoke on children even before they are born. The smoking components reach the developing fetus through the mother. Infants that are born in a smoking environment weigh less and have a weaker chance of becoming a fully developed child. Secondhand smoke leads to blood clots and damages arterial linings which are the two most leading factors in the development of heart disease. The tobacco companies got scared of the effect that the secondhand smoke research can do to the cigarette makers.

    Read More

  • Smoking Ban - Smoking In Public Places

    1269 Words  | 3 Pages

    Smoking is a simple process of inhaling and exhaling the fumes of burning tobacco, but it has deadly consequences. According to the American Cancer Society, smoking is the most preventable cause of death in America today (Encarta, 2002). Until the 1940?s, smoking was considered harmless. It was at this time that epidemiologists noticed a dramatic increase in the cases of lung cancer. A study was then conducted between smokers and nonsmokers to determine if cigarettes were the cause of this increase. This study, conducted by the American Cancer Society, found increased mortality among smokers. Yet it was not until 1964 that the Surgeon General put out a report acknowledging the danger of cigarettes. The first action to curb smoking was the mandate of a warning on cigarette packages by the Federal Trade Commission (Encarta, 2002). In 1971, all cigarette advertising was banned from radio and television, and cities and states passed laws requiring nonsmoking sections in public places and workplaces (Encarta, 2002). Now in some cities smoking is being completely banned from public places and workplaces and various people are striving for more of these laws against smoking.

    Read More

More about sociology

Open Document