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Example research essay topic: Emotional Distress Negative Social - 1,251 words

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Professional Articles -- The Social Meaning of Illness The article that I choose to use for this assignment was "The Measurement of Meaning in Illness" by Betsy L. Fife. I was assigned chapter 5, which dealt with the social meaning of illness. The chapter explored the idea of illness as a form of social control and considers the various models of illness and how they have changed over time. The Sociological model of illness refers to the subjective judgment regarding the meaning of the condition or behavior. It defines illness by defining its abnormal and undesirable affects.

Illness is also shown to be a social construction, or something that exists in the world because we have defined it as existing rather than it being an objective condition. This means that labeling a condition an illness will reflect the perceived undesirable affects of that condition. Therefor, when we label a person as ill, we are labeling them as undesirable. Illness is defined in terms of social norms which are expectations within a given culture regarding proper behavior or appearance. From the sociological standpoint, illness is a form of deviance.

Deviance refers to the behaviors or conditions that socially powerful persons within the culture perceive either accurately or inaccurately as immoral or as violating social norms... Violations of social norms result in the enforcement of negative social sanctions, or any form of punishment from ridicule to execution. These social sanctions are enforced by social control agents such as parents, police, doctors and teachers. Over time there were several theories that were developed to help explain illness. Modern theories of the causes of illness are divided into either personalistic theories or naturalistic theories. Personalistic theories of illness are derived from thoughts that an illness occurs when a god, witch, spirit or other supernatural power lashes out at an individual either deservedly or maliciously.

Naturalistic theories of illness are derived from the idea that an illness occurs when natural forces such as heat, cold, dampness, or wind upset the bodies natural equilibrium. Both theories assert that ill persons cause their illness themselves whether by displeasing the gods or by exposing themselves to the harmful natural elements. Also, both define ill persons as less worthy whether as sinners or as fools. In the nineteenth century, scientific explanations became more prevalent and people thought that illness occurred when biological forces combined with biological susceptibility.

Today it is suggested that stress, personal lifestyle and personality can increase a persons susceptibility to illness. The Medical model of illness is used in the medical world to declare something an illness. According to the medical model an illness is a deviation from normal, specific and universal, caused by unique biological factors, analogous to the breakdown of a machine and defined and treated medically through neutral scientific processes. This model encourages doctors to search for the source of problems within the individuals body rather than within the broader social environment. This model also reinforces the social power of medicine. The article that I choose relates to this information because it examines the concept of the meaning of illness relative to life threatening illnesses and how the meaning of illness affects the patients coping behavior.

The author uses previous qualitative studies that have provided empirical evidence of the importance of meaning by describing its role in adaptation the author uses the relationship between negative life events to try and create a scale that determines the relationship of other variables to be significant to negative life events. The author defines the meaning as "primarily a cognitive phenomenon that arises in response to specific situations and events, and it is a central factor in the process of social adjustment to everyday existence. " The authors tries to establish a scale to measure the meaning of illness as it affects the individuals understanding of the implications the illness has for his / her future identity. The meaning of illness to the individual specifically pertains to the individuals perceptions of their ability to accomplish future goals, to maintain the viability of interpersonal relationships, and to sustain a sense of personal vitality, competence and power. An important aspect in the coping process is the struggle to maintain a sense of meaning that is not devastating to the self, and which allows the individual to maintain a sense of wholeness and personal integrity.

The author used information from questionnaires of 422 persons diagnosed with cancer. The individuals were assessed using questionnaires. The individuals ranged from age 18 - 80, with average age being 52. 158 of the individuals were men and 264 were women. 12 percent came from low socioeconomic status and the remainder came from middle or upper socioeconomic status. The author measured variables that have been previously determined to be associated with meaning and also significant in terms of coping and adaptation. The first was emotional distress.

This was measured using Bipolar Profile of mood states which has a demonstrated validity and reliability. This test measured the individuals mood and was used because the author felt that people coping with cancer experience both positive and negative emotions. She also used a ways of coping checklist to assess the specific strategies that individuals used to cope with the negative impact cancer had on their lives. Another measurement was taken using a personal opinion survey to measure denial.

She considered denial a cognitive coping strategy used too manage emotional distress resulting from the illness. Social support is defined as a coping resource and was viewed from the perspectives of family members, friends, and health care professionals. A separate scale was used to evaluate the perception of support from each source. Body image and adaptation were the final two categories that were assessed to determine what extent individuals saw their appearance affected by cancer and their psychological adjustment affected on an illness scale. The author concluded that cancer affects virtually all aspects of life and it affects the persons' perceptions of themselves and their future. In an effort to adapt to the changes brought about by a crisis of this magnitude, the individuals were found to reformulate their perceptions and attempt to develop a sense of the meaning of illness as it affected their lives.

The article is applicable to our class because it views illness from a subjective viewpoint regarding the true meaning of illness. The article explores how many different individuals were affected in all different aspects of their lives by an illness. This shows how society labels people and how negative social sanctions are put on people who are ill. This article also looks at how those negative social sanctions affect the individuals lives. The social support survey the author gave also gives an idea of the social control agents and how they are responsible for the negative social sanctions that are placed on the individuals with the disease. Another way the article relates to chapter 5 in our textbook is in defining the sick role.

The sick role refers to the social expectations regarding how the sick should look and behave. This article shows how negative social sanctions affect the individual which also help us see the sick role the individual must play. The sanctions put on the individual determine what their role in society must become as compared to what it was before they were ill. This article presented many factors of illness that need to be considered when one thinks about the meaning of illness and shows how they apply to peoples lives.

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Free research essays on topics related to: socioeconomic status, negative social, social norms, social control, emotional distress

Research essay sample on Emotional Distress Negative Social

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