HSC210: Health Sociology Written Assessment - Addressing Health Issues

This assignment, completed for HSC210, delves into various aspects of health sociology. It begins by examining post-modernist perspectives and their implications for health practice. The assessment then explores the persistent challenges in Indigenous health outcomes in Australia, despite increased funding, providing illustrative examples. It also analyzes psychiatry as a form of social control, drawing on sociological theories. The benefits and limitations of e-health are discussed, followed by an examination of how ideology and politics shape health outcomes, using the PBS as an example. The assignment further explores functionalist theory, medical dominance, the concept of discourse in health and biomedicine, and the impact of multiculturalism on health needs, comparing immigrants, refugees, and those born in Australia. The assignment provides a thorough analysis of the subject matter.

STUDENT NAME_STUDENT NUMBER_ HSC210_Written Assessment
Please ensure you follow the instructions provided in Assessment THREE in the assessment
sections on learnline.
Question 1
What insights do post-modernist perspectives provide and what might this mean for health practice?
1 | P a g e
During the later half of the 20th century witnessed the evolution of the post-modernistic approach. It
is characterised with the concept of relativism, scepticism and subjectivism. This concept highlights
the basic suspicion of reason along with severe sensitivity towards the role of basic ideology of
asserting along with proper maintenance of the politic control and economic power. The ideas that
are associated with the post-modernist theory mainly reflect boarder aspect of public discussion
over the role of science in healthcare. This imposes an epistemological challenge over the
knowledge of the expert and thus integrating the fragility of the discursive practices. The post-
modernistic approach that is implacable over the health also recognises the importance of the social
enquiry and requires moral, contextual and practical information in order to empower the choices of
the healthcare service users (Ellaway, 2019). Holmes (2016) stated that post-modernistic approach
in association to healthcare states that the development of illness is not a linear process having
cause and effect equation. Post-modernistic in healthcare states that health and illness is
constructed over a myriad of social, economic, cultural and physical context. This defines the
severity of outcomes of illness. For example, people who resides under poor socio-economic
determinants of health and vulnerable to develop communicable and non-communicable diseases
leading to serious health-related complications. Thus proper analysis of the post-modernist
perspective must be under-taken in order to identify the clinical priorities of health and designing of
the care plan accordingly.

STUDENT NAME_STUDENT NUMBER_ HSC210_Written Assessment
Question 2
Despite increases in funding, explain why in Australia, Indigenous health outcomes are still an issue?
Provide examples to illustrate your argument.
2 | P a g e
The government of Australia was taken a 30-years plan for reducing the health-related in-equalities
among the indigenous population under the public health policy termed as “Closing the Gap”.
However, the policy has failed to reduce significant health-inequality among the indigenous
population of Australia (Bond & Singh, 2020). According to the statistics published by the Australian
Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) (2019) stated that indigenous population are more
vulnerable to develop several communicable and non-communicable disease like diabetes, cancer
cardio-vascular disease and several other mental health complications. The main reason that can be
highlighted behind the increase means of health inequality among the indigenous population are
lack of proper availability of the aboriginal nursing population. The indigenous population belongs to
the culturally and linguistically diverse group of population and such that they experiences
communication barrier while interacting with the healthcare professionals and thereby decreasing
the level of healthcare access. The indigenous population also experience social isolation and this
further restricts their overall healthcare access. Lack of proper availability of healthcare services in
the remote or rural areas are another reason behind increased level of health-inequality among the
indigenous population in-spite of funding made by Australian government (Zhao, 2017).

STUDENT NAME_STUDENT NUMBER_ HSC210_Written Assessment
Question 3
Psychiatry can be viewed as an institute of social control. Draw on sociological theories and
examples to discuss this statement.
3 | P a g e
According to the sociological Balance Theory, proper balance between the personal and professional
life is important in order to improve the overall quality of life. Lack of balance between the personal
and professional life occurs due to increased level of job-stress, lack of recognition in the
professional field and problem in the personal life or financial crisis. Such imbalance increases the
level of stress and anxiety and thus hampering psychological life of personal. Thus it can be said that
proper social control is important in order to increase the level of psychological balance (Waitoki,
Dudgeon & Nikora, 2018). The second social theory that helps in explaining the relation between
social control and psychiatry is Equity Theory. According to this theory, the people feel safe and
empower under proper social and professional recognition. However, the indigenous population
including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander are victims of social discrimination, social isolation
along with racism. This hampers the overall mental health status of the indigenous population.
Constant victim of social isolation leads to the development stress and depression and thus
developing psychological complications. Lack of proper acknowledge falls under the category of
proposition II that increase the level of frustration among the aboriginal population and thus
increasing the suicidal tendencies among them (Genge & Day, 2020).

STUDENT NAME_STUDENT NUMBER_ HSC210_Written Assessment
Question 4
What are the key benefits and limitations of e-health?
4 | P a g e
E-health covers several aspects of remote healthcare services. One of the prime aspects of e-health
is Electronic Health Records (EHRs) (Dinev et al., 2016). Electronic Health Record deal with the
electronic documentation of the patients’ health related information. One of the prime benefits of
the EHRs includes easy documentation of the patients’ information in the online interphase that can
be accessible remotely by the healthcare professionals. This help in framing care plan for the patient
even when the doctors are present in the remote areas. Documentation of patients’ information in
EHRs also helps in reducing time in written or oral documentation. Another benefit of EHRs is
reducing in overall cost of care as it increases the provision of the remote care to the patient
residing in the rural areas. However, EHRs are also associated with certain limitations. For example,
the nursing professionals experience hurdles in getting accustomed with this online documentation
of the information. The lack of trained yet experienced healthcare staffs further create a hurdle in
ensuring proper training of the nursing professionals. Lack of trained nurses in EHRs increase the
chances of encountering documentation errors. Moreover, the EHRs are also experiencing problem
in the domain of proper maintenance of the privacy and confidentiality of the patients’ information
and thereby breaching the Data Protection Act (Cowie et al., 2017).

STUDENT NAME_STUDENT NUMBER_ HSC210_Written Assessment
Question 5
How does ideology and politics shape health outcomes? Draw on examples such as the PBS to
illustrate your points.
5 | P a g e
Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) is a special healthcare scheme proposed by the government
of Australia. PBS helps in easy access of over the top medications along with subsidised access of life
saving medication. However, the subsidised access of life saving medication is undertaken only after
the presence of prescription. The development of the PBS though helped in improving the overall
healthcare access. The ideology underlying the implementation of the PBS scheme is increasing the
overall healthcare access of the people who resides under the poor socio-economic determinants of
health. The Australian Government, Department of Health (2020) highlighted that the PBS provides
reliable yet timely and affordable access to certain several life saving medication. The political
ideology behind the implementation of PBS is to increase the overall healthcare access among the
people who are residing in the remote areas or resides under the poor socio-ec onomic status and
thus are unable to gain comprehensive access to healthcare. The easily availability of medicines at
affordable cost helps in increasing the vote banks of the ruling party. Other ideology behind PBS
includes equitable access to healthcare among both the indigenous and non-indigenous population.

STUDENT NAME_STUDENT NUMBER_ HSC210_Written Assessment
Question 6
Certain mechanisms of functionalist theory are utilised today. Discuss what they are and highlight
the main assumptions and limitations of functionalism.
6 | P a g e
Under the concept of functionalist theory, the society is viewed as a complex system. This complex
system works in unison in order to increase solidarity and stability. Functionalistic approach also
visualises the overall scenario of the society under the light of the macro-level orientation and
broadly focus o n the overall social structures. This helps in shaping up the entire society. One of the
principal assumptions of the functionalistic theory is, it views the overall society under a cohesive
format. This cohesive format mainly states that the society consists of numerous intermediate
groups sharing similar rules. This assumption further signifies that higher level of integration
between the different groups. This in turn helps to reduce the health-related inequality. However,
there are certain limitations of the functionalistic theory. This theory mainly dis-regards the overall
contribution of the individualised action. This theory rather uplifts the overall contribution of the
society. Thus the theory fails to capture the overall change occurring due to the individualistic
actions. Thus the functionalist theory helps in uplifting the overall concept of the comprehensive
healthcare system (O'Shea, Boaz & Chambers, 2019).

STUDENT NAME_STUDENT NUMBER_ HSC210_Written Assessment
Question 7
What is medical dominance and how does the medical profession achieve medical dominance in
Australia?
7 | P a g e
The concept of medical dominance mainly refers to the control over the medical profession in the
domain of style of the treatment, decisions-taken and medical terms and condition. The medical
dominance mainly highlights the autonomy of the medical practitioners in selecting the medical
theory planning of healthcare, The medical dominance in Australia is at present applicable to the
patients. Here the autonomy of the patient is regarded as the prime concept of the medical
dominance. Under the concept of the medical healthcare system, patients’ autonomy is given prime
importance (Germov, 2019). Before the initiation of the therapy, informed consent is taken from
the patient. Only after getting the informed consent, the healthcare professionals can initiate the
therapy and thus helping to respect the patients’ autonomy. In case of the minor patient, informed
consent is taken from the parents. The medical dominance in Australia achieved through informed
consent thus helps in improving the patients’ participation in the care plan. In case of the patient
suffering from the mental illness that decreases the overall cognitive skill, the informed consent is
achieved from the person who owns the power of autonomy (Germov, 2019).

STUDENT NAME_STUDENT NUMBER_ HSC210_Written Assessment
Question 8
Explain the concept of discourse and explain how it is relevant to health and biomedicine in
Australia. Draw on examples to highlight you points.
8 | P a g e
Discourse mainly refers to the manner of constituting the knowledge in association with other social
practices. Discourses can be defined as more than ways of thinking and at the same time producing
a overall subjective meaning. Discourse can be defined a system of thoughts and is regarded as the
pattern of conducting the overall things into reality. This is mainly composed of the overall
knowledge that influences the overall healthcare practice. The concept of discourse in the
healthcare system generally deals with the examination of the socio-cultural and political context
while framing the care plan for the patient (Swales, 2016). The concept of discourse also helps in
understanding the relationship underlying the ideologies and language. People with different
mother tongue and from different ethnic origin have different ideologies. Such ideologies must be
included in the healthcare planning and thus helping to improve the overall aspect of care. While
designing of the bio-medicine, the concept of ideologies further plays an important role. In
designing of the bio-medicine all the aspect of the health, mental and physical health are taken into
consideration and thus helping to promote customization of the medication and thereby helping to
improve outcome of care (Swales, 2016).

STUDENT NAME_STUDENT NUMBER_ HSC210_Written Assessment
Question 9
What is multi-culturalism and how might health needs differ for immigrants and refugees to people
who are born in Australia?
9 | P a g e
The concept of multiculturalism is defined as an amalgamation of people from different culture
under the roof of a single community. Australia is also a land of multiculturalism. The amalgamation
of indigenous and non-indigenous population makes Australia union of different cultures. The
immigrants coming from South Eastern parts of Asia and refugees across the border, further makes
Australia a land of cultural diversity. However, the healthcare needs of the immigrants and refugees
are different from the Australian inmates (McBride, Block & Russo, 2017). Thus apart from culture,
there is also health need diversity in Australia. The difference in the health needs of the immigrants
and refugees of the people are different from the people who are born in Australia arise from the
exposure of the immigrants and refugees to the different geographical environment, different
cultural beliefs and religious thoughts. The deprivation of the basic resources along with the mental
harassment received by the immigrants and refugees force them to develop depression and anxiety
and thereby increasing the level of mental health needs. The immigrants and refugees also reside
under the poor-socio-economic status and thus making them vulnerable to develop numerous
health-related complications and thereby increasing the disease development (McBride, Block &
Russo, 2017).

STUDENT NAME_STUDENT NUMBER_ HSC210_Written Assessment
Question 10
What are the social determinants of health and how do they help us understand the dynamics of
globalisation and inequity? Draw on examples in the Australian context to illustrate your key points.
10 | P a g e
The socio-determinants of health are defined as the factors under which a person resides, grown and
then die. The main social determinants of health that helps to shape up the socio-economic factors
include living condition or home sanitation, employment, financial backup, level of education,
substance abuse and nutritional balance. The people who reside under the poor social determinants
of health are more vulnerable towards the disease development and thereby increasing the level of
health-inequality. For example, the indigenous population reside under poor socio-economic
determinants of health and are vulnerable towards several disease developments, including
communicable and non-communicable disease (Loos, 2017).
The globalization as indicated by the colonization of the Europeans in Australia had uprooted the
indigenous population from their native land and thus hampering their cultural and religious thoughts
and beliefs. This further increased the extent of poor socio-economic determinants of health (Loos,
2017).

STUDENT NAME_STUDENT NUMBER_ HSC210_Written Assessment
References
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Australian Government Department of Health. (2020). The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Access
date: 22nd March 2020. Retrieved from:
http://www.pbs.gov.au/pbs/home;jsessionid=1t9fznziarqqz18wqi16g1wn8w
Australian Institute of health and Welfare. (2019). Health inequalities in Australia: morbidity, health
behaviours, risk factors and health service use . Access date: 22nd March 2020. Rerieved
from: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/social-determinants/health-inequalities-australia/
contents/table-of-contents
Bond, C. J., & Singh, D. (2020). More than a refresh required for closing the gap of Indigenous health
inequality. The Medical Journal of Australia, 212(5), 198-199.
Cowie, M. R., Blomster, J. I., Curtis, L. H., Duclaux, S., Ford, I., Fritz, F., ... & Michel, A. (2017).
Electronic health records to facilitate clinical research. Clinical Research in
Cardiology, 106(1), 1-9.
Dinev, T., Albano, V., Xu, H., D’Atri, A., & Hart, P. (2016). Individuals’ attitudes towards electronic
health records: A privacy calculus perspective. In Advances in healthcare informatics and
analytics (pp. 19-50). Springer, Cham.
Ellaway, R. H. (2019). Postmodernism and Medical Education. Academic Medicine.
Genge, O., & Day, M. V. (2020). Psychological Barriers to Educational Funding for Aboriginal
Students.
Germov, J. (2019). Challenges to medical dominance. In Second opinion: An introduction to health
sociology (pp. 478-503). Oxford University Press, USA.
Holmes, C. A. (2016). Some implications of postmodernism for nursing theory, research, and
practice. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research Archive, 32(2).
Loos, N. (2017). Invasion and resistance: Aboriginal European relations on the North Queensland