198
Views
8
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Articles

State of the Art: A Decade of Health Sociology in Review

&
Pages 122-144 | Received 11 Apr 2004, Accepted 11 Aug 2004, Published online: 18 Dec 2014
 

Abstract

This paper reports on a review of health sociology in Australia from 1990 till present. The authors searched all the major databases for health social sciences including Medline, CINAHL, Sociological Abstracts and Australian Medical Index. Methodological difficulties in capturing all such work are outlined first. Examination of the citations revealed a significant increase in research and commentary in the discipline, and a continued (since the last review) movement away from the biomedical world views towards more inductive, qualitative research strategies and epistemological standpoints. This decade saw the emergence of AIDS, the body and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) as popular themes in research, and the proliferation of risk as a conceptual tool. An important finding is the proportion of single-authored publications and the possible implications for communication and dialogue amongst those working in the discipline, and the seeming lack of collaboration, at least at the level of publication. It is concluded that although there are parallels with the findings of the previous reviews, there have been distinct methodological and paradigmatic shifts in health sociology over the last decade.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.