Edexcel Level 3 BTEC Nationals in Health and Social Care

UNIT 19: APPLIED SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL CAREEssential guidance for tutorsDeliveryLearners should be encouraged to research the origins and the contemporary natureof social inequality in relation to, for example, age, gender, ethnicity, social class,religion, disability and sexuality.It is important to emphasise, through discussion, social changes in terms of theprejudice, labelling, discrimination and social exclusion that particular groupspotentially face. There are good opportunities here to integrate work placementexperiences and relevant guest speakers, thus enhancing delivery of this topic.The demographic profile of the United Kingdom has changed considerably over thepast decades, and classroom activities and independent research tasks should aim todevelop knowledge and understanding of the terms associated with demography.Signposting to relevant websites, magazines or journals and newspaper articles couldbe advantageous to the delivery of this part of the unit.Learners should be encouraged to consider the potential effects of social inequalitieson the health and wellbeing of the population through discussion, research and visitsto relevant organisations.Recent figures state that one in six adults experience neurotic disorders at any onetime and one in seven has considered suicide at some point in their lives. Also, 16percent of adults of working age have a mental illness, of whom up to a half (8percent) are seriously ill.A fifth of people over 55 go whole days without having anyone to speak to, while fivemillion people provide unpaid care, often with little support and no breaks (TheYoung Foundation, 2006).While it is not expected that learners cover all the issues identified, they should beaware that links can be made between them, for example poverty andunemployment.Guest speakers from local voluntary/community organisations, Sure Start andConnexions may be able to help illustrate the multidimensional nature of socialinequalities. Learning here should extend that already undertaken for Unit 7:Sociological Perspectives for Health and Social Care, when learners were looking atpatterns and trends in health and illness among different social groupings.Learning activities may be arranged to allow the cohort to explore a variety ofresearch methods that might be of value for parts of the assessment task. Theseinclude interviews, questionnaire design, structured observation, and statistical andliterature reviews. This aspect of the unit could be linked with work for Unit 22:Research Methodology for Health and Social Care. For example, small-scale groupinvestigations could be carried out as part of classroom activities to enable learnersto practice analysis of health and social care data. Research should always beconducted in an ethical manner.262BN018467 – Specification – Edexcel Level 3 BTEC Nationals in Health and Social Care– Issue 1 – February 2007 © Edexcel Limited 2007