Question

how do the definitions of "health," "medicine," "illness," and "system" covered by the materials (including from the Hahn & Kleinman article) and in class discussion differ from the way you previously understood them? ( you will need to have read the Hahn & Kleinman article to be able to complete the reaction notes

Answer 1

Hahn & Kleinman article for definitions of "health," "medicine," "illness," and "system" covered by the materials:

Hahn emphasize on the concept that the culture of a society develop and totally depends on the way societal members think and feel about sickness and healing.

Furthermore it was stated that the reality of health, sickness, illness, and disease is totally culturally specific & changing continuously. As it’s a dynamic process.

Moreover it is influenced by a range of factors such as exposure to new cultures and beliefs systems, as the processes of modernization, by the introduction of new technology.

Then the Health is “a complete state of physical, mental & social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”

Illness on the other hand is defined as the socio-cultural dimension within which a person experiences disease.

Biomedicine is the application of scientific principles to clinical medicine. It is also known as western or allopathic medicine

Hahn defined Biomedicine as a "socio-cultural system, which is totally based on anthropological behavior of the society.

Hence all the definitions are based on socio-cultural aspects as per Hahn & Kleinman article.