Essay: Health Inequality, Social Class, And Lifestyle Medicine - A Critical Review.

Please provide a brief introduction and conclusion to the assessment. Students are required to summarise the key arguments presented in each reading and discuss in detail one contentious issue explored in each of the readings. This critical review should include at least ten fully referenced high-quality readings.

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From this article Germov (2009) defined class as a group of people having common attributes or properties different from other types and kinds. He also argued that class is the main cause of social inequality. The article plays a crucial role in enabling one to understand the levels of class, which the author classifies them into three namely: upper, middle and working classes. Upper class refers to a group of people who own resources and capital and employs workers to make profit for them. They don’t take part in the daily operations of the businesses but have access to company’s profits.

Middle class refers to a group of people who possess some skills and qualification which enables them to work in better working conditions compared to unskilled ones (Rosalind, 2016). They may include small business owners, health professionals, self-employed and also teachers. Working class consist of a group of both skilled and unskilled manual workers who get paid to exercise their labor powers. According to Shalene (2017), working class people are mostly affected by chronic diseases and also experience health inequalities. This is because most of them are exposed to risk working conditions, poor nutrition and stress.

According to Ryan (2015), Class can also lead to health inequalities. Australians who had low incomes, unemployed and lacked resources had high chances of getting chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer, depression and heart diseases. This means that these people were affected by illness, high death rates and short life expectancy. The existence of social inequality in health outcome shows that there is something causing unequal distribution of healthy in Australia and this is not fair so actions should be taken.

According to Jennifer (2012), there are ways in which a country can address health inequalities between its citizens. One of these ways is by educating individuals on health enhancing behaviors. This would enable the individuals get to know what kind of disease they are suffering from and also help them take the measures required. This would also include educating them on how to avoid some of the health hazards which brings risk to their lives. Also, improving living and working conditions can assist in controlling health inequalities. This is done through making easy access to nutrition food, safe work places and cheap recreation services.

Moreover, educating disadvantaged people on how to maintain their income to overcome long term poverty can help reduce health inequalities. This is because most people tend to use their money on things which are not essentials for life and fail to save for more important use in the future. This education would make them prioritize their needs and avoid the problems associated with poverty like being discriminated when receiving some services such as health. Germov argues that, people should not only focus on educating people on how to use money but focus on making facilities and health services available to them because most people fail to leave classy lifestyles due to lack of money.

Defining Social Class and Its Impact on Health

Egger, Binns & Roosner (2008) defined obesity as a health problem which arises from the environmental and behavioral factors associated with the ways of living in the modern world. These factors include stress, inactivity, improper medication and sexual behaviors. This disease needs an approach of managing them and lifestyle medicine is seen to be the best approach of doing it. According to Beverly (2014), lifestyle medicine is a branch which deals with research, prevention and treatment of diseases brought about by lifestyle factors such as sexual behaviors, poor nutrition and stress. Lifestyle medicine extends from primary prevention which involves preventing the disease from occurring by modifying the behavioral or environmental cause. From primary prevention, lifestyle medicine extends to secondary whereby it involves modifying risks to avoid the disease and finally tertiary which includes preventing the diseases from reoccurring. Lifestyle medicines focus on individuals and also a small group of people and like in any other specialized area, one needs to have great knowledge and skills to get involved in this approach.

According to Claire (2012), lifestyle medicine has also played a big role in preventing and treating diseases which seemed to be dangerous to the people. With improved standards of living and good nutrition, people living with sicknesses such as chronic and acute diseases which could easily cause death can now live at their later life because these diseases are manageable. Acute diseases are ones which come on rapidly and are accompanied by distinct symptoms. These include measles and influenza. On the other hand, chronic diseases are ones which are persistent and requires long term management which can even go for a lifetime. With lifestyle medicines, diseases which seemed to be dangerous and can cost one’s life are now manageable.

However, lifestyle medicine is different from traditional and conventional approaches (Marie, 2014). This is because lifestyle medicines aim at modifying the behavioral and lifestyle causes of diseases rather than curing them whereas traditional and conventional treats individual risk factors. Also in lifestyle medicine, the patient is an active partner of the care whereas in traditional and conventional he or she is a passive recipient of care. It is concluded that exercise and nutrition are the penicillin of lifestyle medicine. Also to prevent these diseases like obesity, people should avoid too much food.

Due to the introduction of the lifestyle medicines, many questions have raised on who is the best person to practice the approach (Leena, 2013). This is because health professionals such as nurses and doctors may be qualified in one field and not the other. Universities and colleges are therefore advised to include a related non –medicine discipline which would enable health professionals to give advice on the treatment and prevention of these diseases (Lindsey & Brandon, 2011). This would also help them understand some of the behavioral and environmental factors that can bring about the illness.

Health Inequalities and Chronic Diseases

From the two papers, it is evident that most sicknesses and health inequalities are caused by environmental and behavioral factors. People who are disadvantaged and prone to poor working conditions, stress and eating unhealthy food are most affected. It is also shown from the two readings that, working class people receive poor services whenever they visit health facilities and some of these diseases have caused death to many. According to Roger (2017), most of these diseases are curable and health professionals have introduced some of the measures to prevent them. From the two papers, they have recognized the need of improving working and nutritional conditions of the patients. This is improved by making easy access to health facilities and foods which are fit for human living. The readings have also discussed educating the patients on the behavioral factors which can easily lead to illness and health inequality. This include giving guidance to them on how they should utilize their small income to avoid poverty. They have also advised the patients on sexual behaviors which can cause diseases such as HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (Ally, 2017).

Conclusion

From the first reading, it is concluded that class is a group of people sharing behaviors and resources which are different from other type and kinds. Although class is one of the most cause of social inequality, there are other factors which leads to the same. These include social groups such as youth and the aged. Class consist of three categories which includes, upper, middle and working classes. Working class are the low-income earners and have high risks of getting chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, depression and heart illnesses. This is because they are exposed to high-risk factors which are the major causes of diseases such as poor working conditions and improper medication. It is also concluded that low-income earners in Australia experience health inequalities. Government have come up with measures to control this problem. This is by making easy access to health facilities, services and better working conditions.

From the second reading, one can conclude that obesity and other diseases are caused by environmental and behavioral factors. This includes, poor working conditions, stress, improper medication and lack of body exercise. In this case, low income earners are the most affected. To prevent this problem, health professionals have come up with lifestyle medicine which aims at preventing and treating these diseases. This approach involves modifying environmental and behavioral risk factors which are the major cause of these diseases. Lifestyle medicine is a specialized area like any other therefore it requires a lot of knowledge and skills. Universities are encouraged to include in every medicine degree a related non-medicine discipline which would enable health professionals to give advice on prevention and treatment of these diseases.

The two readings seem to be sharing some of the ideas on the causes, prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. From both readings, the causes of these diseases are mainly poor living conditions, improper medication and also improper nutrition. To prevent these diseases, it is evident from the two readings that one should make easy access to health facilities and services for low-income earners. This would also include educating patients on some of the behavioral factors that can lead to these illnesses (Salah, 2016). It also involves advising them on how to use their low incomes to prevent experiencing poverty and health inequalities in future.

References

Ally, D. (2017). Chronic Poetics, Chronic Illness: Reading Tory Dent's HIV Poetry through Disability Poetics and Feminist Bioethics.  Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies, 11(1), 9-12

Beverly, L. (2014). Quality of Life for Older Adults with Serious, Chronic Illness.  Forum on Public Policy: A Journal of the Oxford Round Table, 34-40

Claire, W. (2012). Chronic Illness and Informal Cares: 'Non-Persons' in the Health System, Neither cares, Workers or Citizens.  Health Sociology Review, 21(1), 20-25

Egger, G., Binns, A & Rossner, S. (2008) Lifestyle Medicine, McGraw-Hill, Sydney

Germov, J. (2009). Second opinion. An introduction to Health Psychology. Australia &New Zealand: Oxford University Press.

Jennifer, K. (2012).  Self-Management Support in Chronic Illness Care: A Concept Analysis.  Research and Theory for Nursing Practice, 26(2), 10-15

Leena, P. (2013).  Nurses' Perceptions of Parent Empowerment in Chronic Illness.  Contemporary Nurse: a Journal for the Australian Nursing Profession, 45(2), 10-15

Lindsey, M.N & Brandon, H. (2011). The Significance of Spirituality for Individuals with Chronic Illness: Implications for Mental Health Counseling.  Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 33(1), 10-15

Marie, A. K. (2014). Design Concepts for Digital Diabetes Practice: Design to Explore, Share, and Camouflage Chronic Illness.  International Journal of Design, 8(3), 5-10

Roger, W. A. (2017). Children and Adolescents Coping with Chronic Illness and Disability.  International Journal of Child and Adolescent Health, 10(4), 90-95

Rosalind, J. (2016). Social Media Branding for People with Chronic Illness.  Career Planning and Adult Development Journal, 32(2), 23-27

Ryan, S. (2015).  Youth with Chronic Illness Forming Identities through Leisure.  Journal of Leisure Research, 47(1), 5-12

Salah, A. (2016). Illness Perceptions and Disability Levels among Older Adults with Chronic Illness.  Iranian Journal of Public Health, 45(5), 5-12

Shalene, W. (2017). The Personal and the Professional: Betwixt and between the Paid and Unpaid Responsibilities of Working Women with Chronic Illness.  New Zealand Journal of Employment Relations (Online), 42(3), 4-10