Social Theory & HealthPub Date : 2025-12-11eCollection Date: 2025-12-01DOI: 10.1057/s41285-025-00246-5
Adam Christianson
{"title":"Barriers: The discursive problematization and transformation of HIV-prevention service provision in England (2016-2020).","authors":"Adam Christianson","doi":"10.1057/s41285-025-00246-5","DOIUrl":"10.1057/s41285-025-00246-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>While the statement \"patients face barriers\" is prevalent in healthcare-related literature, barrier is seldom conceptualized. While reviews of the concept suggest the term is conceptually and methodologically weak, its utility is more nuanced. This article contributes to an emerging critical health literature conceptualizing <i>barriers</i> by outlining their discursive effects in healthcare discourses on HIV-PrEP in England between 2017 and 2020. A Situational Analysis of the alliances and positions taken by English stakeholders in debates over PrEP illustrates how designating something as a <i>barrier</i> facilitates a power struggle about how healthcare is provided and used. In addition to imparting significance on a problem to patient's uptake and use of a healthcare intervention, <i>barriers</i> align the patient's problems with groups of experts. Once integrated into an expert discourse, <i>barriers</i> facilitate the transformation of healthcare services by objectifying the values, preferences and abilities of a patient community and aligning them with their shared political and governmental aims. <i>Barriers</i>, therefore, play an indispensable and strategic role in evidence-based activism and in the broader domains of biological and sexual citizenship with implications for policy and systems management.</p>","PeriodicalId":46551,"journal":{"name":"Social Theory & Health","volume":"23 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7618524/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145828757","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Populism, moral foundations, and vaccine hesitancy during COVID-19","authors":"Jeremiah Morelock, Andressa Oliveira, Hoang Minh Uyen Ly, Crystal Lee Ward","doi":"10.1057/s41285-023-00201-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s41285-023-00201-2","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46551,"journal":{"name":"Social Theory & Health","volume":"12 38","pages":"1-17"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139437672","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Habits and the socioeconomic patterning of health-related behaviour: a pragmatist perspective","authors":"Anu Katainen, Antti Gronow","doi":"10.1057/s41285-023-00198-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s41285-023-00198-8","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Unhealthy behaviours are more prevalent in lower than in higher socioeconomic groups. Sociological attempts to explain the socioeconomic patterning of health-related behaviour typically draw on practice theories, as well as on the concept of lifestyles. When accounting for “sticky” habits and social structures, studies often ignore individuals’ capacity for reflection. The opposite is also true: research on individual-level factors has difficulty with the social determinants of behaviour. We argue that the pragmatist concept of habit is not only a precursor to practice theories but also offers a dynamic and action-oriented understanding of the mechanisms that “recruit” individuals to health-related practices. In pragmatism, habits are not merely repetitive behaviours, but creative solutions to problems confronted in everyday life and reflect individuals’ relationships to the material and social world around them. Ideally, the pragmatist conception of habits lays the theoretical ground for efficient prevention of and effective support for behaviour change.","PeriodicalId":46551,"journal":{"name":"Social Theory & Health","volume":"32 2","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135973114","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Inequity in palliative care: class and active ageing when dying","authors":"Iben Charlotte Aamann, Betina Dybbroe","doi":"10.1057/s41285-023-00196-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s41285-023-00196-w","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The purpose of this article is to explore social inequity in palliative care in Denmark, a country that is seen as a stronghold of universal health care. Using data stemming from 2 years of research, we have selected two cases for analysis. They consist of palliative conversations with two quite different patients. Drawing on sociocultural class theory, we find that the conversations involve social exclusion processes due to discourses of active ageing. We find that one privileged patient performs in line with an entrepreneurial self and is supported by the nurse. The other, disadvantaged patient performs in a passive way, and the conversation mainly alleviates the disrespect he has experienced in healthcare encounters. We conclude that palliative care reinforces classifying practices and distinctions between “good” and “bad” patients, when active ageing becomes a dominant factor. We suggest improving the quality and sensitivity of medical training and call for increased reflexivity among professionals on the unequal situation of patients in order to reduce inequity in access to health care when close to death.","PeriodicalId":46551,"journal":{"name":"Social Theory & Health","volume":"21 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135420595","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jarrett Rose, S. Harris Ali, Kathryn Wells, Mosoka Fallah
{"title":"Correction to: Postcolonial riskscapes: risk, trust, and the community-based response to Ebola virus disease in Liberia","authors":"Jarrett Rose, S. Harris Ali, Kathryn Wells, Mosoka Fallah","doi":"10.1057/s41285-023-00197-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s41285-023-00197-9","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46551,"journal":{"name":"Social Theory & Health","volume":"29 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135878776","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Negotiating body and power in forensic mental health care","authors":"Virve Repo, Päivi Kymäläinen","doi":"10.1057/s41285-023-00193-z","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s41285-023-00193-z","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46551,"journal":{"name":"Social Theory & Health","volume":"1 1","pages":"1-19"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45724117","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Contextualizing race and sex-related health disparities: doing difference and sexual risk behaviors","authors":"J. Wade","doi":"10.1057/s41285-022-00189-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s41285-022-00189-1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46551,"journal":{"name":"Social Theory & Health","volume":"21 1","pages":"209 - 227"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-11-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49556009","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Professionalization of Chinese medicine practice in Canada: from medical pluralism to neo-orientalism","authors":"M. Islam","doi":"10.1057/s41285-022-00191-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s41285-022-00191-7","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46551,"journal":{"name":"Social Theory & Health","volume":"21 1","pages":"228 - 246"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-11-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44376035","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Street-level bureaucrat's coping strategies in health policy implementation: a comparative case study from Sawla-Tuna-Kalba district of Ghana","authors":"Daniel Dramani Kipo-Sunyehzi","doi":"10.1057/s41285-022-00190-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s41285-022-00190-8","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46551,"journal":{"name":"Social Theory & Health","volume":"21 1","pages":"267 - 285"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-11-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42657862","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"UK public opinion on reasons to oppose healthcare privatisation: a failure of neoliberal persuasion and discursive politicisation","authors":"Jane. Thomas, Sean Tunney","doi":"10.1057/s41285-022-00185-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s41285-022-00185-5","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46551,"journal":{"name":"Social Theory & Health","volume":"21 1","pages":"286-304"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-08-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48047886","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}