Fall 2013 Medical Sociology Take Home Midterm Exam
Due at the beginning of the class period on 10/22/13
All questions have multiple parts. Identify the parts in your answer. For full potential credit, you
must attempt at least 100 points and no more than 110 pts. with some combination of questions as
indicated below. If you attempt fewer than 100 points, your grade potential will be capped at the
points attempted. All essays should begin with an introductory paragraph, end with a summary
paragraph, and include Weitz page references for relevant information. If outside information is
used, you must cite and include references. No outside work is required, other than materials from
class. All work should be double spaced.
Q. 1
possible
pts
0-20
Q. 2
attempted
pts
earned
pts
Q. 5
possible
pts
0-40
0-30
Q. 6
0-40
Q. 3
0-30
Q. 7
5 (req’d)
Q. 4
0-10
attempted
pts
earned
pts
Q. 1) Demographic & Epidemiological transitions, age structures, and health priorities: This is a
question with a definitional foundation and a final application part. This question examines how the age
structure of a population is linked to both demographic and epidemiological transitions and can tell us a
lot about the health care priorities of a society. Your answer should include the following in this order:
1) An introductory paragraph explaining the content of the essay.
2) A brief explanation the five stages of demographic transition in terms of birth rates, death rate, and
population growth rates.
3) A brief definition and explanation of the attendant epidemiological transition in terms of the dominant
morbidities and mortalities at the beginning and at the end of demographic transition. Additionally,
describe what type of health intervention spurred the change in stage two of demographic transition.
4) A brief definition and explanation how a population pyramid illustrates the age structure of a
population. Link the population pyramids and the age structure reflected therein with the models of
demographic transition and epidemiological transition described above.
5) Drawing on your knowledge from the Weitz text, the World in the Balance video, and/or the health
data exercises we did for the United States and the global data comparison we did in the lab, select two
countries to compare. One should have a youth heavy age structure and the other should have an aged
heavy structure. Feel free to use drawings.
6) Identify three probable health priorities for each of your two countries, linking the health priorities to
the age structure of the population. Explain your choices adequately and comment on how different age
structures are distributed worldwide and how there might be a global competition for health care
resources.
7) End with a concise summary paragraph.
Fall 2013 Medical Sociology Take Home Midterm Exam
Due at the beginning of the class period on 10/22/13
Illness and Poverty:
Q.2) In Ch. 3, Weitz states that “…some sociologists label social class a “fundamental cause” of illness.
This, she notes, “ holds true for all major and most minor causes of death and illness, regardless of how
researchers measure social class.
a) Contrast the two approaches to this relationship: the notion that illness causes poverty, including a
mention of social drift theory, and the notion that poverty causes illness, discussing how the five factors
Weitz mentions illustrate how the problems of poverty affects health.
b) At the other end of the status hierarchy, we find Marmot’s Status Syndrome. Summarize the key points
from the article distributed in class and comment on what this suggests for the previous discussion of
poverty and illness.
Women and health
Q. 3) Building on the discussion by Weitz, explain the four key ways in which women’s higher social
status can help to lower infant mortality, both in the U.S. and in developing nations.
a) Extrapolating from the discussion of the cultural v. world systems approaches to HIV in Africa, what
might these two approaches see obstacles and opportunities (2 each) to raising women’s social status in
the U.S. and in developing nations.
b) Discuss the three key factors which contribute to higher rates of death and disease among nonbreastfed babies and four key reasons why more women in developing nations more poorer women in the
U.S. don’t breastfeed. How does this fit in with the discussions above on women’s lower social status and
the cultural v. world systems approaches?
Medicalization
Q.4) a) What is medicalization, b) who are at least three of the major forces which promote
medicalization, c) why is medicalization sometimes opposed by these major forces, d) what are the four
unintended consequences of medicalization that Weitz discusses, and e) what is demedicalization and
why does it occurred?
Fall 2013 Medical Sociology Take Home Midterm Exam
Due at the beginning of the class period on 10/22/13
Theoretical Applications:
Q. 5) Select a model and apply it to a population or issue. Your answer should have the following
components: 1) A definition of the key components of the model, 2) An identification of the basic critic
of the model as presented by Weitz, 3) A brief but specific definition of the selected condition, which
should NOT be one used in the text, 4) A discussion of how each of the key components of the model
applies and/or fails to apply to the condition, with specific illustrations, 5) An assessment of the validity
of the basic critic of the model in light of your discussion, 6) A concise summary paragraph on the
model’s utility with this population or issue.
SELECT ONE OF THE FOLLOWING MODELS SELECT A CONDITION IN ONE OF THE
FOLLOWING CATEGORIES
Cockerham’s Health Lifestyle Theory
A mental illness
Rosenstock & Becker’s Health Belief Model
A contested illness
Parson’s Sick Role
A disability
Mechanic’s Illness Behavior model
A communicable disease
Cultural and World Systems models
A demedicalized condition
Q. 6) Comparing Medical and Sociological Models: Compare the medical and sociological approaches
to ONE of the following conditions. Your answer should include 1) a definition and comparison of the
basic component differences in the medical and sociological approaches to health and illness, 2) A brief
definition of the condition you select, 3) A medical/sociological comparison of how the condition would
be viewed in terms of the basic component differences you identified in #1, 4) the implications of the two
approaches for the medical practitioner, for the patient, and for any other relevant health care actor you
wish to discuss.
PTSD
Postpartum Depression
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
HIV or other STD
ADHD
Alcoholism
SAD-Season Affective Disorder
Q. 7) ALL MUST DO Reflection ( 5 points ) In one to two paragraphs, describe something that you
have read or that we have discussed or watched in class that really stands out to you, resonates with you,
or really challenges your way of thinking and explain why it does.