SOC 3120-Section 002
SOCIOLOGY OF HEALTH ND ILLNESS
Spring, 2015
University of North Texas
Gateway, Room 137
Erma Lawson, RN., Ph.D.
Office Location: Chilton Hall, Suite 300
Email: -use this address
TIME: Tuesday and Thursday: 8:00 a.m-9:20am
Office Hours: Friday 2:00PM-5:00PM
By Appointment: I will be available after each class.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course examines the social context of health and illness. Emphasis will be given to women and vulnerable populations. Among the topics are the sociological model of health and illness; health and illness behavior, and health disparities. Topics also include: epidemiology, social meaning of mental health; social meaning of disease; social source of disease, health reform, and bioethics.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Upon completion of the course, students will:
1. Describe how social roles of the sick/healthy and able-bodied/disabled are social-cultural constructions as well as individual biological-physical phenomena.
2. Explain how the production and consumption of food contribute to understanding health issues in the U.S., and how economic and political forces shape food production and consumption.
3. Describe how environmental conditions and contaminants influence public health, and how social, political, economic, and cultural forces shape environmental conditions and contaminants.
4. Explain how social-cultural structures and forces shape health care outcomes, directly and indirectly.
5. Explain how medical personnel are trained-socialized and describe how the professional health care system operates with hospitals, clinics, health care workers and medical support industries.
6. Compare and describe traditional-scientific medicine and alternative forms of health care, and explain how social-cultural and political-economic factors affect these health-care methods.
7. Describe the structure and operation of the American health care system, and contrast its major features with the health care systems found in other advanced industrial nations.
8. Discuss ethical issues/moral dilemmas involved in health care.
Required Text:
The Sociology of Health, Illness and Health Care, 6th Ed. By Rose Weitz. You need the text to pass this course. Do not rely only on Power Points for course content. You must read the book. If you experience difficulty, please see me. You will be given power points in class, only. They will not be posted on black board. Please to not ask for power points if you miss class.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
You are expected to attend class, to READ THE ASSIGNED READINGS BEFORE CLASS and fully participate in discussions and other course activities. Material covered in lecture will not always be the same as the material presented in the text. I want you to pass this course and to learn. However, you must do your part, attend class, pass exams, and turn in quality work. YOU CAN NOT RELY SOLELY ON POWER POINT MATERIAL. I will assist you to learn the material. Please see me if you have difficulty understanding the material. Do not wait until the end of the semester.
Office hours: If you have questions about the readings, or the assignments, office hours are best. No appointment is needed; just drop by on Friday between 2:00pm and 5:00pm. Occasionally, I use black board to announce messages, check Blackboard Learn announcements daily.
Email: E-mail is great for communicating simple information, but extended conversations will be conducted face to face. I generally reply to email inquiries within 3 days. If you do not receive a reply within this period, resubmit your question(s) and/or phone (leave a message if necessary). Please consult the course outline/syllabus and other course information BEFORE submitting inquiries by email.
Keep copies: Students are strongly advised to keep drafts of work and hard copies of their assignments before submitting them. Keep them until the marked assignments are returned.
Also, if you miss class, do not expect me to bring missed power points the following class. Get to know your classmates, and ask to pick up power points when you miss class. You can also come to my office Friday to get missed power points and other class handouts.
Plagiarism: Plagiarism is a serious academic offence and will be dealt with accordingly. For further clarification and information, please see the University of North Texas’s policy on Plagiarism. This course uses Turnitin.com, a web-based program to deter plagiarism. Students agree that by taking this course all required papers may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to Turnitin.com for the detection of plagiarism. All submitted papers will be included as source documents in the Turnitin.com reference database solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of such papers. The terms that apply to the University’s use of the Turnitin.com service are described on the Turnitin.com web site.
Extensions: Sometimes extraordinary circumstances justify an extension of an exam or assignment; I discuss possible extensions during office hours, not via email. If you are given extra time for an assignment, points will be taken off if you do not have a medical excuse. No make-ups will be given for test make-ups unless you have a physician’s excuse.
Missed Exams: Due to an emergency, if an exam is missed, you may make up the exam only with a note
From a physician. You must contact me within 48 hours of the missed assignment for consideration of
Documentation.
Class room Activities: You will be asked to work in groups. No points will be given for class exercises. Accessibility Needs: The University of North Texas is committed to accessibility. If you require accommodations or have any accessibility concerns, please contact the office of Disability Accommodation (ODA) to verify your disability. If a disability is verified, the ODA will provide you with an accommodation letter to be delivered to me to begin a private discussion regarding your specific needs in this course. You may request accommodations at any time. However, ODA notices of accommodation should be provided as early as possible. Note that students must obtain a new letter of accommodation for every semester and must meet with each faculty member prior to the class. For additional information see the Office of Disability Accommodation website at http://www.unt.edu/oda. You may also contact them by phone at 940-656-4323.
Access & Navigation
You will need to check blackboard Learn weekly. You will need your E”UID and password to log into the course.
ASSIGNMENTS
3 multiple choice exams: Missed exams cannot be made up, unless there are special circumstances such as medical emergencies. In such situations, you must provide proper documentation.
1 Group Presentation
1 Family History Essay (Detailed handout will be given
1 Interview (Detailed handout will be given)
1 Film Assignment (Work in group of 2s: Detailed handout will be given)
GRADINGs: 1stt EXAM: 100 Points- multiple choice exam
MIDTERM: 100 Points-multiple choice exam
FINAL EXAM 100 Points-multiple choice exam
Assignments
Group Presentation 10 Points
Interview 50 Points
Family History Essay 30 Points each (Group will decide)
Film report 10 Points (Work in groups of 2s)
Extra Credit: Individual Presentation of Interview 5 Points (You must inform instructor you want to present your interview)
Attendance will be taken once, randomly 5 Points
1 Self-health Promotion activity (i.e. classes at student health Center or Rec. Center; massage (i.e.) Student Health Center).You must provide evidence of participation -10 Points-submit last class)
A= 360-400
B= 300-359
C= 200-299
D= 100-199 Less than 100 Points =F
Tentative Schedule: Speakers; DVDs and Readings may be added
Week: 1/ 20: Introduction to Health and Illness
Introduction and syllabus review; Definition of Medical Sociology
Read: Weitz, page 102-108
The Social Sources of Modern Illness
1/22 Read: Chapters 1 and 2
DVD: Unnatural Causes”-20 minutes
Know: Definitions-disease, illness, epidemiology, incidence,
Acute disease, life expectancy, mortality, morbidity, chronic disease
1/27: The Social Sources of Modern Illness
Read: Weitz, Chapters 1 & 2
DVD: Unnatural Causes
1/29: The Social Sources of Modern Illness
Read: Weitz Chapter 2:
Identify person you will interview. He/she must have a medical diagnosis.
Turn in your name, diagnosis, and relationship of person you intend to interview
Go Over Interview Handout
2/3: The Social Distribution of Illness
HIV/AIDS (Speaker):
Read: Weitz Chapter3; pages 66-67.
http://www.wemakethechange.com. “Renee’s Story”
2/5: The Social Distribution of Disease (Chapter 3)
Stress Lecture /Speaker importance of Exercise-UNT Health and Fitness Center
2/10: The Meaning and Experience of Illness
Read: Weitz Chapter 5
DVD: Cancer Diaries
Know key Concepts: Medicalization; Social Control; The Sick Role
Interview Due
2/12: The Meaning and Experience of Illness
Read: Weitz Chapter 5
DVD: The Cancer Diaries
Know key Concepts: Medicalization; Social Control; The Sick Role
2/17 The Meaning and Experience of Illness
Read: Chapter 5
Alzheimer’s Lecture “The Forgotten” DVD
Class Exercise: A Review of Major Concepts
2/19 Anorexia Lecture (DVD: Dying to be thin)
Review for 1st Exam
2/24: 1st Exam (50 multiple Choice Questions) Chapters 1, 2, 3, 5,
3/3: The Experience of Disability
Read: Weitz Chapter 6-pages 122-132
Know Health Belief Model
3/5 Speaker-Stress Management from the Student Health Center
The Experience of Disability
Read: Continue to read Chapter 6
Speaker with a Disability??
3/10 The Sociology of Mental Illness
Read: Chapter 7
3/12: The Sociology of Mental Illness:
Read: Chapter 7
“Are the Kids Alright?” UNT Media Library, On Demand Videos
Synopsis: This documentary examines the crisis in mental health care for children and adolescents at risk. With unprecedented access to families, to the courts, and to psychiatric and correctional institutions.
3/16: SPRING BREAK
3/24 No Formal Class: The Sociology of Mental Illness
Read: Finish reading Chapter 7 Watch DVD Assigned
3/26: Health Care in the United States
Read: Chapter 8
Film Report Due
Health Care in the United States-The Affordable health Care Act: www.whitehouse.gov/healthreform: Read summary of Health Care Reform Act, on healthCare.gov. Click on “key features of the Law”. Write key features of the Law
(1) How many states have adopted the Law? (2) State your opinion regarding the law
Know: Big Pharma; birth of Health Insurance, crisis in health care costs
3/31: Health Care in the United States
Read: Weitz Chapter 8
DVD: Big Bucks, Big Pharma: Marketing disease & pushing drugs
Synopsis: Big Bucks, Big Pharma pulls back the curtain on the multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry to expose the insidious ways that illness is used, manipulated
Big Pharma
4/2: Health Care Settings in the United States
Read Weitz; Chapter 10
Hospitals, Nursing Homes
4/7: Health Care Settings in the United States
Read Weitz; Chapter 10
Midterm Exam, Chapters 6, 7, 8 10, DVDs;
4/9: Health Care Technology; Health Care Providers
Read Chapter 11
Group Presentations (3presentations-15 minutes each)
4/14: Health Care Providers
Read Chapter 11
Group Presentations (3 presentations 15 minutes each)
4/16: Other Health Care Providers
Read: Weitz Chapter 12
Speakers: A Health care professional-??
Family History Essay Due
4/21: Other Health Care Providers
Read Weitz Chapter 12
Group Presentation (3 Presentations 20 minutes each)
4/23: Issues in Bioethics
Read Weitz Chapter 13
Group Presentation (If needed)
Watch u-tube The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment - YouTube►1
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JP3Qa32IPw
4/28: Review for Final Exercise: Chapters 11, 12, 13. Information from presentations will be on the final exercise
4/30: Issues in Bio-ethnics/Health Care Provider speaker
5/7: Final Exercise
**The Final Exercise will conclude the semester***
Assignments Due Dates
Interview Due1st Exam
Film Report
Mid-term
Family History Essay
Presentations
Final Exercise / 2/10
2/24 (Chapters 1,2,3, 5)
3/26
4/7
4/16
4/9, 4/11, 4/22,
5/7 Chapters 11, 12, 13
1