1. Presentation 7: Concepts of ill health
Health & Social Care • Unit 7
Presentation 7: Concepts of ill health
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2. Health & Social Care • Unit 7
Impairment: The restrictions on day-to-day activity caused by a physical or mental dysfunction or abnormality, e.g. the loss of a limb, a sensory impairment or a learning difficulty such as Down's Syndrome. Disability: Sociologists often refer to disability as the restrictions that arise for a person with an impairment because of social attitudes and the lack of appropriate services and facilities to meet their needs, e.g. the lack of access to many buildings for people in wheelchairs.
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3. Health & Social Care • Unit 7
Mortality rate: The number of people who have died in the population in a given year. The crude mortality or death rate is expressed as the number of deaths in a year per thousand of the population. Infant mortality rate: The number of deaths occurring in infants under one year old per thousand live births. Morbidity rate: This refers to the number of people who have a particular illness during a given period, normally a year.
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4. Health & Social Care • Unit 7
Disease incidence: The number of new cases of a disease occurring during an identified period of time e.g. a year. Disease prevalence: The total number of cases of a disease in the population at a given time or over a specified period.
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5. Health & Social Care • Unit 7
Iatrogenisis: A term literally translated as 'doctor-generated illness', this refers to any illness generated by medical activity and practice, including the unwanted side effects of medical intervention. The clinical iceberg: The view that official figures do not reveal the true levels of ill health, that the true levels of illness are concealed because many people may not seek professional help or assistance.
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