"Over the Last Century There Have Been Many Lessons Learned

question 14

Multiple Choice

"Over the last century there have been many lessons learned in the health field. A key lesson is that health is a complex phenomenon and the underlying causal pathways for disease and illness are more than just biological. . . . Health is a phenomenon deeply rooted within a social system, and health outcomes result from a dynamic interplay between actors across the lifetime, originating from the cellular level, to the sociopoliti?cal level. . . . As such, efforts to improve health must consider the multifactorial nature of the problem and integrate appropriate knowledge across disciplines and levels of analysis. . . . Health research has implicated a myriad of factors involved in HIV preven?tion. . . Unfortunately, incidence rates continue to rise because the knowledge is not being applied in the unified manner necessary to address the complexity of the problem" (Terpstra et al., pp. 508-509) . The authors are discussing

• A) The inadequacy of the disciplines to address complex problems in the health field.
• B) The disciplines, especially those in the natural sciences, are uniquely able to address the problem of HIV comprehensively.
• C) Since health is a phenomenon deeply rooted within a social system, scientists should limit their focus to the social science disciplines.

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Definitions:

Group Polarization

The tendency for a group to make decisions that are more extreme than the initial inclination of its members, either more conservative or riskier.

Risky Shift

The phenomenon where groups make riskier decisions than individuals would.

Group Norms

Unwritten rules or expectations within a group that dictate the behaviors, values, and attitudes of its members.

Social Reality

The shared beliefs, practices, norms, and values that are constructed by society and perceived as real and valid by its members.