Impact of Social Processes on Services and Users

3.2 Analyse how social processes impact on users of health and social care services

The ‘Social process’ can be defined as the pattern of social interaction that in turn has a changing effect on society over a set period of time (Bain, 2017). It plays a vital role in shaping society. Social processes can impact on users of health and social care service. Processes that lead to marginalisation, isolation and exclusion e.g poverty, unemployment, poor health, disablement, lack of education and other sources of disadvantage can have a negative impact on the demand for health and social care services. Social processes can also impact health and social care services in due to a variety of socio – economic factors such family, community, peer groups, social class, values, attitudes, gender, income, expenditure, employment status, housing, media, cultural beliefs, discrimination, education and bullying.

Family – This refers to genetic relationships (blood ties) or by marriage. There are 4 types of families; extended: including mother father grandparents and other relatives, nuclear:  including only mother, father and children, reconstituted: similar to nuclear but not all children are biologically related to both parents and lone parent: a single parent with child. It is where our first emotional relationship takes place. It should be noted that a stressful family environment can influence negatively and affect self-confidence (Boundless, 2017). A warm and pleasant family atmosphere will allow for increased feeling of safety and comfort and therefore enhance confidence and creativity.

Get Help With Your Essay

If you need assistance with writing your essay, our professional essay writing service is here to help!
Find out more about our Essay Writing Service

Community – This looks at how a grouped social order such as the local community can affect people. It includes places of religious worship, educational and recreational institutions. The community in which someone is brought up will influence their values, attitudes and beliefs. An individual brought up in a supportive community is likely do better than those that are isolated.

Peer groups – People of your own age also affect our development especially in the adolescent stage of life. Examples of peer group influences include smoking because most of a person’s peers taking it up. If people hang around with negatively influential people it will influence negatively on their values, attitudes and beliefs. Peer groups can be a positive by influencing for example in political socialization (Boundless, 2017).

Social class and employment – Your occupation or your parents’ occupation determine your social class. People from the higher social class have enjoyed good health and lived longer on average than people of a lower social class (Ford et al, 2017). This may be because they earn more money and have a better living condition etc. low income individuals live in poor environment with more stress and crime.

Income and expenditure – Income comes from various sources such as from wages, benefit, sale of property, interest on savings and profit from business. People who live on very low income are typically lone-parents, unemployed, and elderly, sick or disables, unskilled workers. The economic resources that you or your family have make a lot of difference to the quality of life that people have (Ford et al., 2017). This is related to social class as the more income you have the more increased your social class will be; this is due to the increased ability to be self-sufficient. With increased income your expenditure can increase showing your increase in class. An example can be seen in buying an expensive car; by having an expensive car you are perceived to be wealthy and therefore is a sign of higher social class.

Employment – If you or your parents are out of work you may life on benefit which is low income. You will end up living in poor accommodation and settlements which will in turn affect your development (Ford et al., 2017).

Housing – When you have a high income you can take out a mortgage and buy a good house. And decide where you want to live. If you have a low income then you have less choice. Live in council estates or densely populated areas. These areas are associated with poor health, increased crime in the neighborhood, more noise from high density housing, stress from overcrowding and lack of privacy (Ford et al., 2017).

Media – Communities and families are influenced by the information and opinions communicated by the media. This include the newspapers, radio, TV internet, adverts magazines and poster. An example of positive influences can be from listening to debates and informative shows, these can encourage people to better question the world around them and fuel the hunger for knowledge which help them understand and improve their lives for the better. A negative influence could be in the watching of violent films and radicalization online or on TV this can be detrimental to the community resulting in more crime and fear amongst locals.

Culture and beliefs – A culture can be identified by distinct aspects of the language, self-presentation, religion, music, art, architecture, and literature. It is the collection of values beliefs customs and behaviors. Children learn the customs associated with their family culture during childhood. They later learn the culture of the local community and end up sharing the same beliefs about religion and other issues. but now with the use of internet and how multicultural the society is, people can choose to identify with any culture (Boundless, 2017).

Discrimination – When people are discriminated against because of their race, beliefs gender, religion, sexuality or mental ability, they lose confidence, have a low self-esteem, become isolated, depressed, anxious, and feel angry and frustrated. They will withdraw and be stressed. This will lead to a poor mental health. They will also feel vulnerable and unsafe. This is when an individual is harassed or oppressed or intimidated by other people. Discrimination may result in bullying and hence people who are bullied will experience the same consequences of discrimination.

Education – Schools from deprived areas are overcrowded and most of the time the children do not do well. This is opposite for schools in affluent areas where children have more learning opportunities. Hence where a child goes to school can also determine what they become in future (Boundless, 2017).

Social Processes: In high dense population areas with low income, unemployment, poor health, disablement, lack of education and other sources has an impact of Socio Economic factors. On the other hand, areas with high income and less population do not suffer any anti-social problems. They are highly educated and earn good wages. They also live in big houses with less people. Health and social care services need to be attuned to the social processes of the area being able to cater to a diverse society addressing concepts including prejudice, interpersonal, institutional and structural discrimination, empowerment and anti-discriminatory practices.

Social process can affect health and social care services through lifestyle factors. This is the way we choose to live our lives and spend our time and money. This can influence our development through nutrition and dietary choices, exercise, stress and substance abuse. Other factors that can influence development can be seen in the environment. These factors include; aaccess to leisure/recreational facilities, access to health and social care services, access to employment and income, aaccess to education and water and sanitation/pollution.

References

Bain, R. (2017). The Concept of Social Process. [online] Brocku. Available at: https://brocku.ca/MeadProject/Bain/Bain_1932a.html [Accessed 6 Feb. 2017].

Boundless. (2017). Family, Peers, Church, and School. [online] Available at: https://www.boundless.com/political-science/textbooks/boundless-political-science-textbook/public-opinion-6/forming-public-opinion-45/family-peers-church-and-school-260-5674/ [Accessed 6 Feb. 2017].

Ford, S., Ford, S., Ford, S. and Stephenson, J. (2017). Social class and its influence on health. [online] Nursing Times. Available at: https://www.nursingtimes.net/clinical-archive/public-health/social-class-and-its-influence-on-health/5091017.article [Accessed 6 Feb. 2017].