Medical Sociology
Question Bank
Course Introduction
Medical Sociology explores the social dimensions of health, illness, and healthcare systems. This course examines how social factors such as class, race, gender, and culture influence patterns of health and disease, access to medical services, and patient experiences. Students will investigate the roles of medical professionals, the organization of healthcare institutions, the impact of public health policies, and the social dynamics of doctor-patient relationships. By analyzing these factors, the course provides insights into the broader societal contexts that shape health behaviors and medical practices, fostering a deeper understanding of the complex interplay between society and health.
Recommended Textbook
The Sociology of Health Illness and Health Care A Critical Approach 7th Edition by Rose Weitz
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13 Chapters
358 Verified Questions
358 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/study-set/2102 Page 2
Chapter 1: The Sociology of Health, Illness, and Health Care
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21 Verified Questions
21 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/41865
Sample Questions
Q1) The rate of tuberculosis increased dramatically during the 1980s. As a result, tuberculosis during those years should be referred to as
A)an endemic illness.
B)an epidemic.
C)an acute illness.
D)a pandemic.
E)a prevalent illness.
Answer: B
Q2) To decide whether to believe in the results of a published study, it helps to know
A)whether the research was based on a random sample.
B)whether the researchers controlled statistically for possibly confounding variables.
C)what type of magazine or journal published it.
D)all of the above
E)none of the above
Answer: D
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Chapter 2: The Social Sources of Modern Illness
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29 Verified Questions
29 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Globalization has helped spread illness by
A)eroding cultural traditions that previously had reduced sexual activity.
B)encouraging industries that push into forests and put humans in contact with diseases carried by animals.
C)increasing the number of people who travel from region to region.
D)all of the above
E)none of the above
Answer: D
Q2) Which of the following is true?
A)Nicotine is an addictive drug.
B)Tobacco use contributes to infant mortality.
C)Living or working around tobacco smokers increases risks of mortality and morbidity.
D)all of the above
E)a and b only
Answer: D
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4
Chapter 3: The Social Distribution of Illness in the United States
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25 Verified Questions
25 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/41867
Sample Questions
Q1) The idea that illness leads to poverty more often than poverty leads to illness is known as
A)epidemiological theory.
B)sick role theory.
C)social class theory.
D)social drift theory.
E)fundamental-cause theory.
Answer: D
Q2) Women have lower rates of heart disease in part because their bodies produce more estrogen than do men's bodies. This is an example of
A)the feminization of aging.
B)the feminine mystique.
C)sex differences.
D)gender differences.
E)both sex and gender differences.
Answer: C
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Chapter 4: Illness and Death in Less Developed Nations
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29 Verified Questions
29 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Most deaths caused by malaria occur among
A)older adults in Eastern Europe and Russia.
B)adults in Eastern Asia.
C)older adults in South America.
D)children in South America.
E)children in Africa.
Q2) What defines whether a country is more or less developed? Why should development be conceptualized as a scale rather than a dichotomy? Give two examples to illustrate your argument.
Q3) Why has HIV/AIDS spread more rapidly in Africa than in the United States? Why has heterosexual transmission played a greater role in Africa?
Q4) The impact of HIV/AIDS is magnified by the fact that the disease typically A)hits at midlife.
B)results in water pollution.
C)increases air pollution.
D)kills many street cleaners.
E)leads to overpopulation.
Q5) Why should war and disasters be considered public health issues?
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Chapter 5: The Social Meanings of Illness
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27 Verified Questions
27 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/41869
Sample Questions
Q1) Early nineteenth century doctors argued that cholera typically attacked only individuals who
A)had come in contact with dangerous miasma.
B)had weakened their bodies through improper living.
C)had been weakened by living in poverty.
D)were malnourished.
E)had bad genes.
Q2) According to sociologists, doctors are
A)social institutions.
B)social deviants.
C)social control agents.
D)cultural commodities.
E)demedicalizing.
Q3) Which of the following is a contested illness?
A)HIV disease
B)measles
C)fibromyalgia
D)leprosy
E)influenza
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Page 7
Chapter 6: The Experience of Disability, Chronic Pain, and Chronic Illness
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28 Verified Questions
28 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/41870
Sample Questions
Q1) Use of alternative therapies
A)decreased during the 1990s.
B)can be considered a form of new social movement.
C)occurs mostly among those who have abandoned mainstream medical care.
D)occurs mostly among those with terminal illnesses.
E)can be considered a form of new socialization.
Q2) Should people with disabilities be considered a minority group? Why or why not?
Q3) Over the last few decades, the prevalence of disabilities has A)increased.
B)decreased.
C)stayed about the same.
Q4) Someone who wins wheelchair marathons to prove he is no different from others despite his disability is A)passing.
B)engaging in deviance disavowal.
C)challenging stigma.
D)engaging in illness behavior.
E)engaging in sick role behavior.
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Chapter 7: The Sociology of Mental Illness
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29 Verified Questions
29 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/41871
Sample Questions
Q1) The Rosenhan study suggests that
A)mental health workers cannot always tell whether someone needs psychiatric care.
B)definitions of mental illness vary cross-culturally.
C)mental illness is primarily caused by organic problems.
D)homosexuality should not be considered a mental illness.
E)psychiatrists are less well trained than psychologists.
Q2) How are residential colleges similar to and different from total institutions?
Q3) Once an individual seeks treatment for psychiatric problems, doctors typically A)remedicalize the journals they use.
B)assume that the individual has a mental illness.
C)work to reduce the stigma of mental illness.
D)work to identify the individuals' cultural background and its impact on treatment.
E)seek to understand the social context in which the individual's symptoms or problems emerged.
Q4) Explain the link between stress and mental illness, and then use that explanation to explain class, gender, and race differences in mental illness.
Q5) Critique the medical model of mental illness, using evidence from the textbook.
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Page 9
Chapter 8: Health Care in the United States
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30 Verified Questions
30 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/41872
Sample Questions
Q1) The original health maintenance organizations
A)used retrospective reimbursement.
B)considered it less expensive to treat illness than to prevent it.
C)paid doctors on salary rather than on a fee-for-service basis.
D)were less cost-efficient than traditional fee-for-service insurers.
E)allowed patients to choose their own doctors.
Q2) How has Canada's single payer system kept health care costs down more effectively than the US system?
Q3) When hospitals purchase more advanced technological equipment than they can readily use, the prices charged to consumers for using that technology typically A)increase.
B)decrease.
C)remain unchanged.
D)are linked to the inflation rate.
E)are linked to the recession rate.
Q4) What kinds of health care reforms do you think are necessary? What stakeholders would be likely to oppose those reforms?
Q5) Why have health care costs risen in the United States?
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Chapter 9: Health Care Around the Globe
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29 Verified Questions
29 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/41873
Sample Questions
Q1) The term "physician extenders" refers to
A)doctors' office assistants.
B)health care workers who sometimes can substitute for doctors.
C)insurance companies owned by doctors.
D)technological equipment used by doctors.
E)video equipment that allows doctors to treat patients long-distance.
Q2) The health care system in Germany can best be described as
A)an entrepreneurial system.
B)a National Health System.
C)National Health Insurance.
D)social insurance.
E)communistic.
Q3) Which nation's health care system would you prefer? Why?
Q4) To control health care costs, the British health care system has encouraged
A)the privatization of health care.
B)the use of acupuncture.
C)specialized medical education.
D)the building of new hospitals on a regular basis.
E)all of the above
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Chapter 10: Health Care Settings and Technologies
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30 Verified Questions
30 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/41874
Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is a result of commodification?
A)keeping nursing home residents strapped to chairs during the day
B)purchasing gourmet foods for nursing home residents
C)requiring nursing home residents to shower daily
D)increased drug use among nursing home staff
E)increased drug use among nursing home administrators
Q2) In the Netherlands, doctors
A)can legally end a patient's life in certain circumstances.
B)who commit euthanasia may receive the death penalty.
C)can legally instruct a patient how to commit suicide painlessly, but cannot end the patient's life themselves.
D)who commit euthanasia can be tried for manslaughter but not for murder.
E)can legally end a patient's life only if they are psychiatrists.
Q3) To assist families in caregiving, some wealthy nations provide
A)long-term paid leaves.
B)free or inexpensive assistance with domestic chores.
C)more assistance than the United States.
D)all of the above
E)none of the above
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Page 12
Chapter 11: The Profession of Medicine
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28 Verified Questions
28 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/41875
Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following have threatened medical dominance?
A)the rise of corporatization
B)the rise of government control
C)the decline in public support
D)all of the above
E)none of the above
Q2) RBRVS (resource-based relative value scale) was adopted to increase
A)the incomes of medical specialists.
B)the incomes of doctors in primary practice.
C)the cost of Medicaid and Medicare.
D)the cost of drugs.
E)hospital profits.
Q3) Doctors' power over their patients increases when
A)patients are physically unable to communicate.
B)doctors work in solo practice.
C)doctors and patients share the same culture.
D)doctors and patients share the same language.
E)doctors belong to the AMA.
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Chapter 12: Other Mainstream and Alternative Health Care
Providers
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26 Verified Questions
26 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/41876
Sample Questions
Q1) Curanderos
A)typically train through apprenticeships.
B)work primarily with young persons.
C)do not recognize any western categories of disease.
D)can legally bill insurance companies for their services.
E)are sued for malpractice more often than are doctors.
Q2) Which of the following is true?
A)Lay midwives typically work at local clinics.
B)With low-risk populations, home birth conducted by experienced lay midwives is as safe as doctor-attended hospital births.
C)Babies delivered by lay midwives are significantly more likely to die than babies delivered by obstetricians.
D)Lay midwifery is illegal in all 50 states.
E)Lay midwifery is legal in all 50 states.
Q3) Which of the following meets the sociological definition of a profession?
A)advanced practice nursing
B)chiropractic
C)midwifery
D)acupuncture
E)none of the above
Page 14
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Chapter 13: Issues in Bioethics
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27 Verified Questions
27 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Why should sociologists concern themselves with bioethical issues? Why should bioethicists study sociology?
Q2) Research on the impact of the bioethics movement suggests that doctors
A)have changed how they make decisions about patient care but not how they document those decisions.
B)are now less likely than in the past to tell patients that they have cancer.
C)have become more committed to incorporating ethical principles into their work.
D)still can assert their discretion over patient care, even when they cannot enforce their decisions.
E)routinely fight hard against hospital bureaucrats in order to practice ethically.
Q3) Which of the following statements about stem cell research is true?
A)Supporters argue that it will stem the rise in new cases of cancer.
B)It has increasingly shifted into universities and away from the for-profit sector.
C)Opponents equate harvesting stem cells to killing humans.
D)It has already produced effective treatments for several diseases.
E)none of the above
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Page 15