The link between social class issues and depression for women in Essay

The link between social class issues and depression for women in Scotland - Essay Example Besides, evidence also suggests that social issues such as poverty and discrimination can â€Å"undermine the recovery of people† from mental health problems (Myers, McCollam & Woodhouse, 2005, p.1). It further transpires that despite various initiatives taken to mitigate the problem, various challenges to mental health in Scotland arising out of â€Å"poverty, deprivation, discrimination and inequality† still remain unresolved (p.1). The problem appears to be more compounded in the case of Scottish females from lower social strata as they are unlikely to be financially independent and, thus, have to cope with various other stress elements. In this scenario, a research into the relationship between social class and depression in females in Scotland can facilitate reasonable insights into the mental health problems of this segment, which the logic behind the choice of this topic. The research will primarily be based on the information gleaned from various articles publis hed on the topic, which have been discussed in detail in the annotated bibliography appended below. Scotland’s Mental Health and Its Context: Adults 2009, written by Taulbut M, Parkinson J, Catto S, and Gordon D: This report, co-authored by four professionals in the public health field, on behalf of NHS Health Scotland, identifies the improvement of mental health as a â€Å"national priority† and sets out the objectives of the Scotland government (Taulbut et al, 2009, p.1). It attempts to describe the concept of mental health, identify the risk factors that may cause mental problems as well as the â€Å"difference within the adult population by selected dimensions of equality† (p.1). The report has relied on both quantitative and qualitative data in arriving at its findings and overall it captures the situation in Scotland, especially in the context of specific social status. The data considered for the report are from reliable sources such as public surveys or published by organizations in public or mental health. The surveys relating to 2003 suggest that women and people who live in â€Å"deprived communities† are â€Å"significantly more likely† to become victims of the mental health problems (p.17). It further points to the findings that women have higher risk of mental health problems and â€Å"17%† females have been found to be having ailing from mental health problem while the percentage of males remained at 13 (p.18). In the specific context of depression, the report maintains that it did not â€Å"significantly† differ among gender or age (p.20). Available data further suggests that the adults from lower social strata are more likely to manifest the symptoms of mental health problems at â€Å"12% compared with 8%† of those from higher echelons of the society (p.21). The findings of the study further suggest about three-fourth of the indicators of equalities analysis indicate an â€Å"association between poor mental health† and socio-economic disadvantages (p.155). The report finally provides benchmarks for â€Å"mental health improvement in Scotland† but concedes to one limitation that the data in most cases relate to the year 2000. However, the authors believe that when the availability and quality of data improves in the future the benchmarks can be modified suitably. The

The History and evolution of health care economics Essay

The History and evolution of health care economics - Essay Example Health care economics is one branch of economics that deals with problems like scarcity in the distribution of health care. A general overview of this study includes social issues in healthcare (alcoholism, smoking), health care system, and allocation of funding to public healthcare. Early studies in this field can be attributed to Kenneth Arrow when he published his article titled â€Å" Uncertainty and the Welfare economics of medical care â€Å" in 1963. Nowadays, numerous researches dwelling on health care economics just shows the importance of this issue to modern living. The study of economics would always be a relationship between supply and demand, and healthcare is no exception to such. First, it must be understood that healthcare is a derived demand since it is affects the result of health and must be directly consumed ( Newhouse, 1996) in order to feel its benefits. Although people would not like the idea of receiving this service, they have no choice when they get sick. In fact, Evans and Stoddart (1990 ) asserts that â€Å"Health care is one the determinants of health and from an economic perspective, it is simply an input into the production of health†. This is the main reason why government should spend on healthcare since healthy citizens are more productive and costs less to society. Even individuals should ideally spend for their own preventive healthcare so they would not get sick thereby reducing downtime in terms of man hours. Unfortunately, people do not prioritize healthcare issues all the time since there are other equally important things to spend for such as food, education and housing. It is only when one’s health is endangered do people pay attention to this issue; thus, people even buy costly medicines when they are really sick. On the other hand, Kowalski’s paper in 2003 revealed that â€Å"medical care and prices have an elastic