FREE ESSAY ON MEANING OF ILLNESS

MEANING OF ILLNESS

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.