Midterm Part 2: SOC Medicine

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Briefly explain history of stress research

Stress research traces back to the humoral theory of disease (Hippocrates) – “not stressed out” idea. 

Discouraged by the germ theory of disease, however Walter Cannon’s idea of homeostasis validated it.

• Homeostasis (Walter Cannon, 20th century) - a state in which the body’s physiologic processes are in balance and are properly coordinated

what is homeostasis?

• coined by Walter Cannon in 20th century: a state in which the body’s physiologic processes are in balance and are properly coordinated

what is flight versus fight syndrome?

coined by Walter Cannon, the body's natural, automatic reaction to stress or danger that prepares the body to respond to a threat by fight, flight, or freeze

Explain what eustress is and give examples

a positive form of stress

examples: Coming in first place in a race, promotion, watching a horror movie, love, marriage, roller-coaster.

Life events versus chronic stressors and differences

life events: short-term instances that interrupt daily life

chronic stressors: long-term conditions that significantly and consistently disrupt daily life 

what is role strain? what are the five types?

role strain: a type of a chronic stress that people come to experience as they engage over time in normal social roles

five types: role overload, interpersonal conflicts within role sets, interrole conflict, role captivity, and role restructuring 

describe and give one example of the 5 types of role strain?

-Role overload: one role too many things to handle at once

• (ex. single-parent balancing work and meeting child needs)

-interpersonal conflicts within role sets: contradictory responsibilities that come within the same role

• (ex. department chair whose also a friend)

-interrole conflict: 2+ roles that are incompatible with each other

• (ex. an adult being a parent and boss to their child)

-role captivity: being in a role that one doesn’t like

• (ex. pursuing a major one doesn’t enjoy but pursues for parental approval)

-role restructuring: when something changes in a long-standing role

• a department that employees work in is shut down from budget cuts, and they take on a job from a new department

What are mediators of stress and explain them.

two types: social support and coping

social support: 

coping: things people do to control, prevent or avoid distress

• Techniques: Psychological resources (personality characteristics we draw on), cognitive techniques (assigning meaning to stressful event), and behavioral techniques (behavioral techniques + behaviors we engage in to deal with stress)

What is occupation stress and burnout?

occupation stress: when there is a discrepancy between the demands of the environment/workplace and an individual’s ability to carry out and complete these demands

burnout: a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed

Provide arguments for both the exposure and the vulnerability hypothesis.

exposure hypothesis: lower class = unequal exposure to stress →increased rates of distress

vulnerability hypothesis: lower class = pre-existing vulnerabilities →greater capacity for distress

Discuss general trends in stress and demographics discussed in class.

-black people have more stress than white people

-minorities have higher cumulative stress burdens and resulting in ill health

-females: increased stress esp. in the workplace, regardless of other factors, greater cumulative stress burden (and thus disability)

-low SES higher levels of stress

-workplace stress is prevalent in US over ½ ppl reported high work stress levels

• Highest in human service-type professions

What is the Human Genome Project?

a large, well-organized, and highly collaborative international effort that generated the first sequence of the human genome/entire human DNA/gene sequence (took 13 years)

What is disease etiology?

etiology: identification of the causes of disease patterns

Proximal risk factors and fundamental causes of disease etiology?

Proximate risk factors - health-related individual behaviors (diet, exercise, use of tobacco and alcohol, control of stress, and other aspects of lifestyle)

Fundamental causes - underlying social conditions (socioeconomic status, social inequality, community, exposure to stressful events, etc.)

Be able to describe the disease patterns in the US and what the top
diseases and a few rates are. Compare to developing world.

US disease patterns: double-disease burden, more chronic diseases than infectious but still both

top diseases and their rates: Heart disease-top COD and is 1 person dies every 33 sec, Cancer-2nd leading COD and ¼ deaths, COVID-19-4th leading COD, Accidents, Stroke

(additionally Alzheimer’s disease, Mental illness and mental disorders)

disease patterns of developing world: double disease burden, or infectious diseases and also chronic degenerative diseases

• increasingly adapting Western lifestyles- implications for health

top diseases:  HIV, TB, Diarrheal diseases, Malaria, Measles

Cultural versus world systems theory – understand each and explain in own words.

cultural systems theory: Labor-intensive farming requires large families for success, emphasizing and valuing fertility. Because of this, people have many sexual partners and HIV spreads.

world systems theory: Multinational corporations from core nations exploit raw materials from peripheral nations for their own profit. This creates circumstances where jobs are both low-paying and few centralized locations. Women cannot survive on the farm alone, so they are forced to be prostitutes and the demand for them increases with men away from their families. So, HIV spreads.

What is NIH?

National Health Institute

• Nation’s medical research agency, largest amount of funding for medical
  research in world, and has 27 Institutes and Centers

Define health

WHO definition: a state of complete physical, social, and mental well-being

Define health behavior

health behavior: activities that people do to either maintain or improve their health or potentially harm their health 

• consists of: prevention (ex. exercise, not smoking), detection (ex. screenings), promotion (ex. health promotion campaigns), protection (ex. policies that encourage good health, such as non-smoking ads)

Know the difference between the biomedical and the sociocultural definition of health

sociological (sociocultural) definition of health: capacity to perform roles and tasks 

• ability to comply with social norms for behavior 

• focus is much broader than physiological functioning; the individual’s own perception of their health is given centrality 

• health is evidenced in positive capacity to perform one’s roles 

biomedical definition of health: a focus on the physiological state of the body, determined by presence or absence of symptoms of sickness or absence of “negative” state

• limiting definition- overemphasis of disease and underemphasis of health and well-being