Widespread Wellness Consulting

Imagine an entire state or country with a stethoscope around it. Imagine it’s heart beating, feel it’s energy level. Is it in a positive state of mind? Is it conflicted or depressed? Lethargic? What’s the quality of environment in general? Can it breathe?
While that may be a little abstract to think about, population health is the health of an entire group of people collectively. Medical sociology is the study of how a society (its “social structure”) contributes to how it’s doing, health-wise. Medical sociologists study health systems, and how they impact people’s lives in various communities. They study differences in health- like the prevalence of certain illnesses, physical and mental- according to social categories. For example, people in a higher income bracket vs a lower are often found to be generally in better health. Communities that are economically deprived or have high unemployment are often found to be at higher risk for drug overdose issues. And life expectancy varies incredibly according to where you physically live.
It's not often you hear about the field of medical sociology, and the concept population health is not widely used in the general public- yet it’s something we may think about on a daily basis. As a public medical sociologist, I dig into the research on our collective wellbeing, and share these insights into the underlying social conditions that are affecting our quality of life as a group. If we dig deep enough, we can expose these roots and get to the healing.

I'm a medical sociologist, but what is that?! How does it relate to population health--aka our collective wellbeing...

Medical Sociology + Population Health Medical sociology is the study of the health of a society and healthcare system of a society, in order to learn more about how the structure of a society imp...