Social Science, Health, and Health Care
Behavioral Science in Health and Medicine
Behavioral science studies human behavior and its applications in health and medicine. It aims
to understand why people make specific choices related to their health, enabling the
development of interventions that promote healthy behaviors and prevent disease. Key
applications include:
Promoting healthy behaviors: Developing interventions to encourage healthier eating habits,
increased physical activity, and avoidance of unhealthy habits like smoking. For example,
providing feedback on physical activity levels can motivate individuals to increase their
activity.
Preventing disease: Implementing strategies to prevent the spread of infectious diseases,
such as reminding people to wash their hands regularly.
Improving treatment adherence: Creating interventions to help individuals adhere to their
medication regimens, such as using text message reminders.
Managing chronic conditions: Developing behavioral interventions to assist individuals in
managing chronic conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, such as helping people
with diabetes control their blood sugar levels.
Specific examples of behavioral science in health and medicine:
Cancer prevention: Developing interventions to reduce cancer risk through healthy lifestyle
choices like diet and exercise.
Cardiovascular disease prevention: Creating interventions to manage blood pressure,
cholesterol, and weight to reduce the risk of heart disease.
Mental health: Developing interventions to manage mental health conditions like depression
and anxiety.
The Rise of Social and Behavioral Aspects in Public
Health
This shift recognizes the significant influence of social and cultural factors on health outcomes.
It moves beyond purely biomedical models to acknowledge the complex interaction between
environments, relationships, and behaviors that shape health and well-being.
Key aspects to consider:
Growing recognition of social determinants of health: Factors like socioeconomic status,
education, access to healthcare, and discrimination profoundly impact health. Lower
socioeconomic status is linked to higher rates of chronic diseases, infectious diseases, and
mental health problems.
Limitations of traditional biomedical approaches: Medical interventions alone often fail to
address the root causes of health issues. Focusing solely on treating obesity through
medication or surgery, for example, ignores the influence of food deserts, poverty, and stress.
Rise of chronic diseases: Non-communicable diseases (e.g., heart disease, cancer, diabetes)
are significantly influenced by lifestyle choices shaped by social and environmental factors.
Evolving concept of health: The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as "a state
of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or
infirmity," emphasizing social and emotional well-being.
Integration of social and behavioral aspects into public health practice:
Social epidemiology: Investigating social and environmental factors contributing to disease
distribution and patterns.
Behavioral interventions: Designing and implementing programs promoting healthy behaviors
and preventing unhealthy ones, considering social and cultural contexts.
Community-based public health: Partnering with communities to identify and address
specific health needs through culturally appropriate interventions.
Policy and advocacy: Advocating for policies that promote health equity and reduce social
and economic disparities in health outcomes.
The Scope and Theoretical Approaches of
Anthropology of Health
Anthropology of health (medical anthropology) explores the intersections of culture, society, and
human biology in understanding health, illness, and healing. It goes beyond individual and
biomedical models to illuminate the broader social, cultural, and environmental factors
influencing health experiences and practices.
Scope of Anthropology of Health:
Understanding health and illness: Examining how different cultures define and understand
health, illness, and disease, including local interpretations of symptoms, etiologies (causes),
and responses to illness.
Culture and medical systems: Investigating the diverse range of medical systems used by
different communities, including traditional medicine, folk healing practices, and biomedicine,
and understanding how these systems coexist, interact, and are perceived by people within
specific cultural contexts.
Social determinants of health: Critically examining the social, economic, political, and
environmental factors that shape health outcomes, including issues like poverty, inequality,
discrimination, and access to healthcare resources.
Embodiment and experience: Exploring the embodied experiences of health and illness,
focusing on how cultural factors influence bodily perceptions, emotions, and practices related
to wellness and suffering.
Bio-cultural perspectives: Integrating biological and cultural factors to understand health and
illness, acknowledging the complex interplay between genetics, environment, and cultural
practices in shaping health outcomes.
Theoretical Approaches:
Medical ecology: Focuses on the relationship between humans, their environment, and health,
examining how ecological factors like climate, resource distribution, and environmental
degradation impact health and disease patterns.
Interpretivist approach: Emphasizes understanding individual and cultural interpretations of
health, illness, and healing practices, using ethnographic methods to explore how people
make meaning of their experiences and how cultural narratives shape health behaviors.
Critical medical anthropology: Critiques power dynamics and inequalities in healthcare
systems, examining how social, economic, and political factors influence access to
healthcare, medical knowledge production, and health policy decisions.
Feminist anthropology of health: Focuses on gender-based experiences of health and illness,
examining how gender roles, norms, and inequalities impact women's and men's health
experiences and access to healthcare resources.
Postcolonial anthropology of health: Examines the legacies of colonialism in shaping health
inequities and healthcare systems, exploring how colonial practices, knowledge production,
and power structures continue to influence health outcomes in various regions.
