Przemiany postaw wobec śmierci

The article presents main changes in social attitudes towards death and dying starting from the middle age till contemporary times. It shows how these attitudes have been changing from the acceptance and openness to denial and taboo. The influence of broader social processes like secularization of life, industrialization, transformation in values and family structure, and above all the progress of medical knowledge and science generally, is indicated as the factors influencing discussed changes. As a result of their occur­rence, death and dying have become a medical experience instead of family one. All above mentioned processes are also responsible for the modification of the social context surrounding death; the patterns of caring for a dying person, his/her interactions with closest milieu, the structure and ways in which the institutions where the death occurs function. However, in the last years the new trends in the social attitudes towards dying may be observed; the need of humanization of this process and assertion of dignity to those passing on are the symptoms of the new approach.Artykuł prezentuje główne kierunki dokonujących się od średniowiecza do czasów współczesnych przemian postaw społecznych w stosunku do śmierci i umierania. Pokazuje, jak zmieniały się one na przestrzeni czasu: od akceptacji i otwartości do tabuizacji śmierci i wypierania jej ze świadomości. Zmiany te warunkowane były przez szersze procesy społeczne, takie jak rozwój nauki, a szczególnie medycyny, sekularyzacja życia, przemiany wartości i struktury rodzin związane z industrializacją. W efekcie tych zmian śmierć i umieranie z wydarzenia rodzinnego i religijnego stały się wydarzeniem medycznym, rzadko uwzględniającym prawdziwe potrzeby pacjenta i jego rodziny. Procesy te miały i mają określone konsekwencje dla kontekstu społecznego dotyczącego śmierć i umieranie — ich medykalizacji, sposobu opieki nad osobami umierającymi, natury interakcji między nimi a otoczeniem, a także dla struktury i funkcjonowania instytucji, w których śmierć najczęściej następuje. W ostatnich latach odnotować można nowe trendy zwiastujące przemiany postaw wobec śmierci. Można mówić o powolnym zwiększaniu otwartości w stosunku do problemów, jakie niesie ze sobą śmierć, widocznym w rosnącej potrzebie jej humanizacji i zapewnienia umierającym godnych warunków do odchodzenia

Profilaktyka dla ubogich. Przypadek profilaktyki raka szyjki macicy

Prevention for the poor. The case of gynecological preventionPoland belongs to European countries characterized by the highest mortality of women caused by cervical cancer – neoplasm that is fully curable if early enough detected. It happens so despite of several, broadly designed prevention actions addressed to women, encouraging them to participate in preventive screenings. All these actions particularly fail among women from lower social strata, especially living in poverty. The question is therefore, what are the main obstacles behind this behavior? What is the cause of their reluctance to prevention of the life threatening disease, even if it is not related to any expenses? The article tries to answer these questions looking for the answer among structural and socio-cultural variables influencing women’s approach to health and disease. Presented research results demonstrate problems of gynecological prevention among women threatened with social exclusion

Rocznik Lubuski (t.32, cz.2): Seksualność człowieka obszary zainteresowań teoretyków i praktyków

Pod redakcją: Zbigniewa Izdebskiego

Płeć społeczno-kulturowa i społeczne determinanty zdrowia

The existing paradoxical differences in the mortality and morbidity rates (death rates and illness rates) between men and women, which are difficult to explain by biological factors, have called researchers’ attention to social and cultural factors as a possible explanation. The worldwide statistics indicate that women outlive men in almost all countries, while at the same time they suffer from higher morbidity rates than men, due to chronic physical and affective disorders. In addition, the data shows that women, as compared to men, are underprivileged in several material resources that are important to preserve good health. This puzzling situation has invited a search for socio-cultural factors that could shed some light on the nature of different health patterns of men and women. This article uses a sociological perspective in an attempt to show that the observed differences may be attributable to differing socio-cultural and structural arrangements of both genders

Prevention for the poor. The case of gynecological prevention

Poland belongs to European countries characterized by the highest mortality of women caused by cervical cancer – neoplasm that is fully curable if early enough detected. It happens so despite of several, broadly designed prevention actions addressed to women, encouraging them to participate in preventive screenings. All these actions particularly fail among women from lower social strata, especially living in poverty. The question is therefore, what are the main obstacles behind this behavior? What is the cause of their reluctance to prevention of the life threatening disease, even if it is not related to any expenses? The article tries to answer these questions looking for the answer among structural and socio-cultural variables influencing women’s approach to health and disease. Presented research results demonstrate problems of gynecological prevention among women threatened with social exclusion

The Struggle with Time in Chronic Illness

It is worth looking at chronic illness with its pain, suffering and increasing limitations from the perspective of time. By time we mean subjective time relating to the perception and dynamics of the malady in the patient’s impressions and the role which time plays in the structuring of the patient’s life and experience. The main focus of this article is the experience of progressive kidney failure (uraemia), a condition which requires regular dialysis or kidney transplantation. Due to its specific crises, hopes and periods of waiting, painstaking medical procedures lasting many hours and turning points in the disease’s trajectory, time and its passage are a particularly adequate instrument with which to analyse the experiences of patients with uraemia. These experiences are discussed against the backdrop of selected elements of health care and attitudes towards transplantation which provide the social context for patients’ struggle with illness

Polish Women 50+: How do We Age?

The article presents women’s ageing in Poland as a biological, psychological, and socio-cultural process. It also points out some of the differences in relation to men’s ageing. The object of a detailed study is the situation of women in the 51–60 age group, i.e. in the period when women of “mature age” become “older.” This period is particularly interesting both because of the women’s feelings and the social pressure to which they are subjected

HEALTH PREVENTION: INTERPRETATIONS, DEFINITIONS, RATIONALITIES (THE CASE OF GYNECOLOGICAL PREVENTION)

Polska należy do krajów o najwyższej w Europie umieralności kobiet z powodu raka szyjki macicy, postaci nowotworu, który jest w pełni wyleczalny, jeżeli odpowiednio wcześnie wykryty. Dzieje się tak mimo szeroko zakrojonych, masowych akcji kierowanych do kobiet, zachęcających je do badań profilaktycznych. Dlaczego więc kobiety docierają do lekarzy tak późno? Gdzie leży przyczyna ich niechęci do zapobiegania chorobie zagrażającej życiu? Artykuł próbuje odpowiedzieć na te pytania, poszukując przyczyn wśród czynników strukturalnych i społeczno-kulturowych, wyznaczających stosunek kobiet do zdrowia i choroby. Przedstawione wyniki badań dotyczą profilaktyki ginekologicznej kobiet zagrożonych wykluczeniem społecznym.Poland belongs to European countries characterized by the highest mortality of women caused by cervical cancer - a neoplasm that is fully curable if detected early enough. It happens so despite of several, broadly designed prevention actions addressed to women, encouraging them to participate in preventive screenings. Therefore, the question arises: why do women contact the doctors so late? What is the cause of their reluctance to prevention of the life-threatening disease? The article tries to address these questions looking for the answer among structural and socio-cultural variables influencing women's approach to health and disease. The research results under discussion concern the problems of gynecological prevention among women threatened with social exclusion

Płeć społeczno-kulturowa i społeczne determinanty zdrowia

The existing paradoxical differences in the mortality and morbidity rates (death rates and illness rates) between men and women, which are difficult to explain by biological factors, have called researchers’ attention to social and cultural factors as a possible explanation. The worldwide statistics indicate that women outlive men in almost all countries, while at the same time they suffer from higher morbidity rates than men, due to chronic physical and affective disorders. In addition, the data shows that women, as compared to men, are underprivileged in several material resources that are important to preserve good health. This puzzling situation has invited a search for socio-cultural factors that could shed some light on the nature of different health patterns of men and women. This article uses a sociological perspective in an attempt to show that the observed differences may be attributable to differing socio-cultural and structural arrangements of both genders

Psychosocial determinants of health inequalities

The article presents selected research results on differences in self assessed state of health and the role of social class related psychosocial factors that may be responsible for health inequalities. Among discussed variables are: differences in lifestyles, health care utilization patterns and perceived access to health care and social support network. Their relative value to predict health differences is weighted against the role of social position indicators. The empirical base for considering above issues is the representative study of Warsaw inhabitants conducted in 2004