Chapter 11: Health and Society - Inquisitive Questions and Definitions

What are plausible reasons why the Dutch are on average significantly taller than Americans?

-Dutch society has a more egalitarian wealth distribution. -They eat better and lead a healthier lifestyle.

What are some of the main provisions of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, known as "Obamacare"?

-Insurance for low-income -Americans is subsidized. -Risk adjustment based on preexisting conditions is eliminated. -All Americans are required to purchase insurance. -Medicaid eligibility has been expanded. -Young adults can stay on their parents' plan through age 26.

In which ways has advancing medical knowledge led to progress in the fight against AIDS?

-Medication can lessen the likelihood of HIV turning into AIDS. -Anti-HIV medications are increasingly affordable. -Medication can lessen the likelihood of HIV transmission from mothers to infants

Place the ethnic groups in the United States in order of descending infant mortality rate.

-black non hispanic -american indian (alaskan native) -hispanic -asian american (pacific islander)

Within the United States, which three populations have the greatest risk of HIV infection?

-homosexual men -African American men -African American women

Which actions on the part of health-care providers, patients, and other agencies have contributed to the problem of increased antimicrobial resistance in infectious diseases?

-prescriptions of antibiotics to patients who do not need them -the routine use of antibiotics in animal feed -failure by patients to complete prescribed courses of treatment

In which ways do doctors wield power in today's health-care system?

-they decide what counts as a medical disorder -they have broad authority to write prescriptions -they are self regulating

Which fraction of Americans take prescription antidepressant medication?

1 in 10

As the graph shows, the incidence of twin births per 1,000 births has increased in recent decades, across all maternal ages but especially with older mothers. What causes of this increase have been identified?

1. Fertility drugs increase the likelihood of producing two or more eggs at the same time. 2. With in vitro fertilization, several pre-embryos are implanted in order to improve the chances of success.

Which items represent possible explanations for the fact that firstborn children are more likely to die young than children later in birth order?

1. Firstborns are more likely to be the result of unplanned pregnancies. 2. Parents make more mistakes while raising their first children than while raising the later ones. 3. Firstborns with health problems have fewer siblings than healthy firstborns do.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM for short, has undergone many revisions since the publication of the first edition in 1952. Place the events in the evolution of the DSM's contents in chronological order.

1. Homesexuality is listed as a psychiatric disorder 2. Homosexuality is removed from the list of disorders 3. The DMS shifts from a psychological model of diagnosis to a medical one 4. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is added to the list of disorders

Both in the Americas and worldwide, malaria is less of a problem than it once was. Place in chronological order the steps that were taken to fight it.

1. Malaria was a major cause of illness and death among workers on the Panama Canal 2. In the southern United States, swamp drainage and the use of window screens reduced the frequency of mosquito-human contact 3. Worldwide the use of insecticide DDT reduced the rate of malaria infection in many areas 4. Where it ramains, malaria continues to be a major obstacle to economic development

What are the benefits of a mandatory insurance plan that covers large numbers of people?

1. The costs that will be paid out are fairly predictable. 2. Income and expenses are such that the system is sustainable.

Match each health problem with the ethnic group that has higher rates of it.

African Americans -heart disease -cancer Hispanic Americans Native Americans -cirrhosis of the liver White, Non-Hispanic Asian American

When economist Adriana Lleras-Muney studied the effect on health of additional time spent in school, she found that people with more schooling were less likely to die over a ten-year period. What was her specific finding?

An additional year of school meant a 3.6 percent reduction in ten-year mortality

Classify each person as suffering either from clinical depression or normal sadness, from the standpoint of Allan Horwitz and Jerome Wakefield (2007).

Clinically Depressed -someone who has had frequent, specific suicidal thoughts and impulses for the past week Normally Sad -someone who has been having negative thoughts and irregular sleep patterns for the past three weeks due to work-related unhappiness -someone who has wondered for several months whether it makes sense to bring children into the world, given the state it is in -someone who has been moody and withdrawn for the past three weeks following the death of a spouse

Availability and affordability of medical care are major predictors of life expectancy and quality of life.

False. (Nutrition, lifestyle, and socioeconomic status are much more important for predicting how long people will live and how active and enjoyable their lives will be.

Vaccination has proven to be a highly effective weapon against certain diseases. Polio, which at its peak in the 1940s and 1950s infected tens of thousands in the United States each year, has been nearly eradicated worldwide through vaccination. Newly developed vaccines against diseases such as meningitis hold great promise as a public health tool in Africa.

Polio Ten of Thousands Nearly Meningitis

From which other trade did the surgical profession evolve?

barbering

According to surveys, which quality in doctors do patients rate as most important?

bedside manner (People want their doctors to listen attentively and to answer questions honestly, in plain language.)

In an HMO, a doctor is paid based on the number of people assigned to him or her, rather than on the number of patient visits. What is the term for the per-person fee the provider earns?

capitation (Caput is Latin for "head." In ancient Rome, a capitation was a tax per head; that is, per individual.)

What is the difference between dynamic psychiatry and diagnostic psychiatry?

dynamic psychiatry focuses on psychological causes, while diagnostic psychiatry focuses on symptoms

There are three theories about why health and socioeconomic status (SES) are correlated. Match each theory to its description.

selection theory: -Health and SES are spuriously correlated due to a common causal factor, such as genetics, driving both. social determinants theory: -SES causally affects health. the drift explanation: -Health causally affects SES.

What are the rights and obligations of a sick person, according to Talcott Parsons's theory of the "sick role"?

the obligation to try to get well (obligation) the right not to be held accountable for his or her condition (right) the obligation to seek and comply with competent medical advice (obligation) the right to ignore at least some functions of a normal social role (right)

The Hmong people are an ethnic group native to the mountainous regions of mainland Southeast Asia. What is traditional Hmong understanding of epileptic seizures?

the soul briefly leaves the body and visits the spirit world