OCR Level 3
Cambridge Technicals
in Health and Social Care
Unit 6:
Sociological Perspectives for
Health and Social Care
Introduction
There are a number of factors that can
influence your health:
Genetics
Physical Environment
Social Environment
Social Factors
The social factors that influence a person’s health
could include:
Home
Are some groups
more likely to be
homeless?
Income
Does the amount
you earn affect
your life
expectancy?
Lifestyle
Are some groups in
society more likely
to smoke and
drink?
Race
Nutrition
Is there a correlation
between nutrition and
income equality?
Is there a correlation
between ethnic
groups, income
equality and health?
Social Factors
Social factors can impact on an individual’s health in two
main ways:
Through
wider
societyand
in which
The role the
of the
individual
their
the personpeers,
lives and
eg: works, eg:
Individuals
Inequalities
choose
in
to behave
access
in to
ways
healthcare
that areacross
detrimental
the country.
to
their health.
An individual’s
A
culture
of
peer
group
drug and
influencing
them
alcohol
abuse.
to smoke or take
drugs.
Measuring the Data
How do we know that these factors are influencing an
individual’s health?
We need to conduct social research
to find out people’s attitudes about the
impact of society on health.
Measuring the Data
But we need to be aware that:
Attitudes across
different cultures may
result in differences in
diagnoses and results.
Stigma in society
may result in
events not being
reported at all.
Social factors may have more or
less of an impact on different
groups depending on their
religion, class or gender.
What will you learn?
After completing this unit you will:
Understand key
sociological
perspectives
Understand
sociological
approaches to
health and social care
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