Sociology for Health Professionals in Ireland is a text that will find a welcome place on the bookshelves of Irish health professionals. It introduces the reader to a wide range of international literature and research on the sociology of health and illness; and it relates this material to the Irish context.
This is a comprehensive sociology textbook for those operating in any area of healthcare - for instance nursing, medicine, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and radiography - be they lecturers, students, health practitioners or health researchers. It outlines the fundamentals of sociology as a discipline. It shows how sociology has been developed to inform understandings of health and healthcare under four themes: health professions and sociology; sociological understandings of health and illness; experiences of healthcare; and the social context of healthcare.
As well as covering a wide range of theoretical issues and empirical research relevant to the work of health professionals, it also offers an analysis of the social and policy context of health and healthcare in Ireland. It demonstrates how a social model of health has become central to our understanding of contemporary health issues. A feature of the book is its extensive referencing. This will make it a key resource for those conducting further research in this area.
“This impressive volume is comprehensive in scope, well-reasoned and of great practical value to health professionals in Ireland and elsewhere … [It] will be a major resource and point of reference for years to come."
- Professor Robert Holton Head of the Department of Sociology Trinity College, Dublin