Understanding Health, Health Care & Health Policy in Canada

Health and Health Care in Canada: A Sociological View provides students with a general introduction to a sociological orientation to health and health care, with dual emphasis on health (promotion, maintenance, and prevention) as well as illness (treatment, cure, and care). Three themes are introduced in the first half of the book, which figure prominently in the second half: 1) the importance of taking a lifespan perspective; 2) the need to attend to the public and the private, the micro and macro, and the individual and the structural; and 3) issues of inequality. The second half of the text will focus on Self, Formal, and Informal Care, along with Canada's health care policy. Discussion around topical issues, such as obesity, smoking, homelessness, AIDS, stress, and mental illness will be threaded throughout the book.