ASSIGNMENT: Medical Sociology

Directions: Be sure to make an electronic copy of your answer before submitting it to Ashworth College for grading. Unless otherwise stated, answer in complete sentences, and be sure to use correct English spelling and grammar. Sources must be cited in APA format. Your response should be three to six pages in length; refer to the "Assignment Format" page for specific format requirements.

In Lessons 1-4 you have learned a great deal of information on theoretical explanations of the sociology of health, illness, and health care.This written assignment will allow you to provide practical application of concepts learned. This written assignment contains two parts. In the first part, you will combine the questions presented. Please see list of questions below and provide responses:

Part I

Please answer the following questions in 250 words or more.

What contribution does Parsons' concept of a sick role make to our understanding of sickness in society? What are the weaknesses of that concept?

Ethnicity affects individuals' health in many different ways. Compare the effect of ethnicity on health for two ethnic groups (of your choice), summarizing and explaining the similarities and differences between them.

Why has HIV/AIDS spread more rapidly in Africa than in the United States? Why has heterosexual transmission played a greater role in Africa?

Critique the medical model of mental illness, using evidence from the reading material from lesson 4.

Part II

For part two of the assignment, you are asked to find a newspaper article or peer-reviewed journal article related to material covered in class or in the text and provide a written analysis of the article that explores a medical sociological aspect of the ideas or events depicted within the article. Within your written analysis, you need to identify one of the first four course learning objectives presented in the course and explain how this learning objective relates to the article selected. When selecting your article, please make sure the article identifies one of the subjects discussed within lessons one through four. Response should be a minimum of two pages long, submitted according to APA guidelines with applicable reference page and title page (title page and reference page not included in page count).

The four course learning objectives are provided below:

1. Identify and explore the socio-cultural aspects of health and illness, specifically as relating to the definitions of health, illness, behavior, and social epidemiology.

2. Describe and examine the social causes of disease and illness and vaccinations due to race, clan, and ethnicity.

3. Explore the health professions and health institutions from the broader perspectives provided by theory and research in the sociology of occupations and complex organizations.

4. Identify the forces within the health care field and society as a whole that leads to increased government participation in the delivery of health care including the nature of health maintenance organizations and managed care.