Kellie Quinton

Student ID: 2139560

Reflective Journal: Part One

Changing Understanding of Health Knowledge
Kellie Quinton
Wellness and Wellbeing
I began this topic believing that wellbeing and wellness meant the same
thing, an overall explanation of an individuals complete health based
lifestyle. Reading Heils (2014, pp. 40-54) chapter changed my view on these
terms. Initially, I did not understand the information I read until a peer gave
me an example. She explained wellness as a lady who had gone through
cancer and still had a positive outlook on life even with a horrible disease. I
now understand wellness as the positive nature of a person and wellbeing as
all aspects of what it means to be well. After doing some research to broaden
my knowledge, I recognize that health does not just define illness and injury
but actually means the overall state of physical, emotional and social factors
in life (Brssow 2013, p. 342).

These expressions can be influenced by

agency (Heil 2014, p. 41). In my experience, agency has influenced my

health, wellbeing and wellness when deciding to go to university, move out
of home and buy myself a puppy because I felt in control of my life instead of
being controlled and became a more positive person. This meant I had
improved these aspects in my life. This makes me question what are the
most important elements keeping wellbeing and wellness maintainable in
society. Engel created the biopsyhcosocial approach meaning biological,
psychological and social factors are determinants of health (Heil 2014, pp.
43-44). However, I agree with the term ownership of the term lies with the
user as cited in Heil (2014, p. 45). Having considered and discussing
different terms and aspects of what wellbeing and wellness mean, I now
realise that there are many different explanations for the terms. Health,
wellbeing and wellness are not all tied as one but actually have different
meanings. Additionally, during this topic I think my knowledge base will
expand as to what I understand and consider what these terms mean.
Toxic World

Kellie Quinton

Student ID: 2139560

Previously I had no idea what type of damage I could be contributing to the

earths environment. I had never thought about looking through my own
products and researching the type of toxic chemicals that I buy and allow
into the environment every day. It has been a big surprise after researching
on EWGs database website (2016) about what the ingredients actually are. It
has had an impact on what I might buy and if I actually need these products
to continue in my daily lifestyle.
Are the health problems that humans experience actually from our own
continuous pollution to the environment? This is a question I am now asking
after being involved in this topic for the past two weeks as I read a piece of
information from Germov (2014, p. 61), explaining that social determinants
have a big impact. Sachs (2015, p. 15) chapter discusses that humanity will
lower access to fresh water, animal species and habitats. Reflecting back to a
video we viewed in class called Story of Stuf (2007), I now understand that I
and other people in society are going to keep polluting the environment if we
do not start to control and reduce the toxins that are being realised. The
video opened my eyes to the amount of waste and rubbish that humans are
producing. My changing understanding of what this means is that our planet
cannot successfully and sustainably keep heading the way it is now or we are
going to destroy it. Initially I was unaware of my personal impact. My next
step will be to hopefully be able to stop the pollution that I have been
contributing to the environment and encourage others to do the same.

Kellie Quinton

Student ID: 2139560

Reference List
Brssow, H 2013, What is Health? in Microbial Biotechnology, vol. 6, no. 4,
pp. 341-348.
EWGs Skin Deep Cosmetics Database 2016, Environmental Working Group,
viewed 22nd March 2016, <http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/>
Germov, J 2014, Second Opinion: An Introduction to Health Sociology, 5th edn,
Oxford University, Melbourne, Australia.
Heil, D 2014, Well-being and Wellness, in Second Opinion: An Introduction
to Health Sociology, 5th edn, J Germov (ed.), Oxford University, Melbourne,
Australia.
Sach JD 2015, Introduction to Sustainable Development, in The Age of
Sustainable Development, Columbia Press, New York.
Story of Stuff 2007, The Story of Stuf Project, viewed 16th March 2016
<http://storyofstuff.org/movies/story-of-stuff/>

Kellie Quinton

Student ID: 2139560

Reflective Journal: Part Two

Changing Understanding of Health Knowledge
Kellie Quinton
Food, Health and Social Wellbeing
My understanding of food being an important topic in health begins in my
own experiences. Unhealthy eating has become a very common occurrence
in my particular lifestyle. According to Williams and Germovs (2014, p. 208)
explanation of social differentiation when discussing food; the text says,
people of different social class tend to choose different foods. For example,
someone with more money may dine in a fancy restaurant, whereas
someone who cannot afford that will go for the cheaper option (fast food). I
constantly run to a fast food outlet because it is easy, cheap and accessible
and also standardised. This can also known as part of the McDonaldization of
food (Williams & Germov 2014, p. 211), McDonaldization defined by George
Ritzer as the global expansion of agribusiness through the standardisation
of food production and consumption (Williams & Germov 2014, p. 2011).
Standardisation suggests I would be able to get the same type of food in
every restaurant I visit across countries and expect the same result
(Finelstein 2003, p. 198).
So why is this important for health education? Finkelstein (2003, p. 195)
describes a large amount of the Australian consumer economy to be spent
on eating fast food and this is affecting the overall weight of the population. I
believe that if society doesnt become aware of how bad the consequences
of eating these foods are, then our population is going to keep becoming
more obese and unhealthy. Healthy lifestyles and foods could be promoted
by the government for recognition of the obesity rate (Desapriya 2004, p.
1488).
By revisiting the structure VS agency debate, Ive learnt that one idea of
structure involving food could mean an increase in companies influencing
eating patterns and agency could suggest what kind of foods we want to eat

Kellie Quinton

Student ID: 2139560

and have access to (Williams & Germov 2014, p. 212). In what I understand
from

that

is

structure

can

be

promotional

companies

providing

advertisements about certain foods and then I would go and buy that
product, or agency, which determines that I feel like eating fast food because
I have an acquired taste for the salt and other ingredients (Williams &
Germov 2014, p. 212).
My understanding of what this means is that the social appetite is shaping
what individuals are eating every day. For me, the most significant
opportunity to teach in health education is the difference between foods and
how to live a healthy lifestyle. Previously, I would have blamed only the
individual person for being unhealthy. However, I realise now that
advertisements, social class, religion, businesses and a growing taste for bad
food as well as many other factors are all incorporated in bad health.
Gender and Health
The task in class groups to view what different students see as gender
stereotypes opened my eyes to how labels can affect individuals. For
example, my group came up with a woman being expected to make salads
while the men were expected to cook a BBQ at a family function. This social
division of labour creates society to assign different careers to different
genders because of what society views as a social norm (Broom, Freij &
Germov 2014, p. 122). My understanding collects ideas that men and women
are exposed to different health issues due to the type of work that are doing.
Men are exposed to higher safety issues than women (Broom, Freij & Germov
2014, pp. 126-127).
Relating back to the biomedical model of health, where illness is developed
or contracted by consuming microorganisms through food, water and air
(Germov 2014, p. 11); I believe that gender and health can be connected to
this through different workplaces as a stereotype; For example, females
being in contact with children more than men most likely would. Through my
experience of gender and health in this type of situation, working as a
checkout operator, I constantly serve people that are unwell, sneezing into

Kellie Quinton

Student ID: 2139560

their hands before passing money over and I catch customers colds
regularly, as were the other women working on registers. The male staff
members out the back of the store were hardly sick, as they were not
exposed so closely to the infectious coughs and colds through customers.
However, after saying that, I have learnt a new term, Intersectionality,
defined by Hankivsky (2012, pp. 1712-1713) as being more than just a single
grouping of an individual but moving towards many factors of an individual in
society. After doing an activity in class about Intersectionality, I think it
means that I could be a female according to genitals, but still be able have
more abilities that stereotypically a male may be better at.
In linking Intersectionality and gendered health together, I believe that it is
more complicated than saying that men and women are different. My
understanding of this can be referred to Broom, Freij & Germovs (2014, pp.
138-139) conclusion that females and males both suggest their own
personal, individual concept of social life and lifestyle. They should not be
stereotyped and that is a learning curve I must improve on.
Indigenous Health
Indigenous health is a topic that I hardly think about. Ive realised how
confronting is it when reading what indigenous people have been through. I
usually ignore issues like this because I feel like there isnt anything I can do
to help. Previously, the stolen generation was a term I did not understand
until I read Gray, Saggers & Stearnes (2014, pp. 147-162) chapter. It is a
horrific matter that children from the indigenous culture are being taken and
institutionalised to become more accepted in society and its still
happening today. Womens babies are being taken from them just hours after
they are born in hospitals (Utopia 2014). A couple of things thatll stick with
me from the film Utopia that we watched in class is If youre a black
aboriginal Australian, you are not wanted on this earth or the fact that
people celebrating Australia Day didnt want to discuss or know what
Australia Day means (Utopia 2014).

Kellie Quinton

Student ID: 2139560

My thoughts on this topic are that there always be an inequality of health for
aboriginals because there arent enough people willing to help, or the type of
help that is suggested is not right for the aboriginal peoples culture that
they are so used to living in. My changing knowledge of health of indigenous
Australians suggests that they may not want to quit alcohol use and
smoking, which is a leading cause as to why they have low life expectancy
rates (Gray, Saggers & Stearne 2014, pp. 153-154). Would trying to change
their habits destruct the quality of their lives for the worst?

Reference List
Broom, D, Friej, M & Germov, J 2014, 'Gendered Health' in J. Germov (ed.)
Second Opinion, 5th edn, South Melbourne, Oxford University Press.
Desapriya, E 2004, Obesity epidemic in The Lancet, vol. 364, no. 9444, p.
1488.
Finkelstein, J 2003, The taste of boredom: McDonaldization and Australian
food culture in The American Behavioural Scientist, vol. 47, no. 2, pp. 187200.
Germov, J 2014, 'Imagining Health Problems as Social Issues' in J. Germov
(ed.) Second Opinion, 5th edn, South Melbourne, Oxford University Press.
Gray, D, Saggers, S & Stearne, A 2014, Indigenous health: The perpetuation
of inequality in J. Germov (ed.) Second Opinion, 5th edn, South Melbourne,
Oxford University Press.
Hankivsky, O 2012, Womens health, mens health, and gender and health:
implications of Intersectionality in Social Science and Medicine, vol. 74, no.
11, pp. 1712-1720.
Utopia 2014, A Film by John Pilger, Darmouth Films, Australia.
Williams, L & Germov, J 2014, 'The Social Appetite: A Sociological Approach
to Food and Nutrition' in J. Germov (ed.) Second Opinion, 5th edn, South
Melbourne, Oxford University Press.

Kellie Quinton

Student ID: 2139560

Kellie Quinton

Student ID: 2139560

Reflective Journal #3
Word count: 1641
Health promotion is the process of providing education to encourage
people to improve their health and lifestyle (Cragg, Davies & Macdowall
2013, p. 3). It also enables communities to have access to facilities such as
clean water and hospitals (Germov, Freij & Richmond 2014, p. 465). The
health promotion concept began at the start of the Industrial Revolution
(1800-1900s). The population in Europe started to expand. The living and
working conditions were very poor due to this increase in population. There
were many environmental issues that were causing problems for European
cities (Cragg, Davies & Macdowall 2013, p. 5). Public health policies were
introduced. The policies were supposed to combat the sickness and diseases
that were occurring from these bad living conditions. For example,
vaccinations and treatment of some diseases were available after the
policies were launched (Cragg, Davies & Macdowall 2013, p. 6). New theories
were later discovered about how people were becoming ill through bacteria;
drug treatments (antibiotics) were made for treatment. The newest policy,
the new public health approach focuses on the environment, food safety,
behaviour, social and economical factors of health (Germov, Freij &
Richmond 2014, p. 465). The two categories of health promotion are a
structuralist and individualist approach. The structuralist approach involves a
range of interventions and laws that restrict certain issues from happening.
For example, there is a law about the amount of cigarette packets you are
allowed to buy at one time. The individualist approach refers to programs
that educate about health promotion, i.e. no smoking or dont eat this type of
food (Germov, Freij & Richmond 2014, p. 466). Health promotion can be
linked to all types of health issues because there is always new ways of
trying to better the community and ourselves.
In my experience, health promotion has started to work for me through
an individualist approach. I have friends that are becoming fit and healthy
through looking after themselves, eating properly and going to the gym.
They often try to involve me by going to organic restaurants or saying lets go

Kellie Quinton

Student ID: 2139560

for a walk or hike. Their motivation and education of healthier living has
encouraged me to do the same. I have joined a gym and stopped buying so
much junk food because of their way of promoting this healthier way of
living.
Another concept I had not thought about before has changed how to
look at health education. It is an upstream/downstream continuum that
relates to problem solving health issues. Upstream means making or building
solutions to fix a problem that was occurring; a preventative.

The

downstream would rely on a cure, without thinking of how to fix or prevent

the problem (Germov, Freij & Richmond 2014, p. 464). For instance, there is
a hole leaking in a roof at your house. It is making mould grow on the ceiling
and youre getting unwell because of it. An upstream treatment would be
fixing the hole that had been leaking water. A downstream cure would be
going to the doctors to get treated for feeling unwell, while returning to the
house would only make you unwell again.
I think this expression of upstream and downstream could be used for
the car accident advertisements that we watched in class. They were both
about texting while driving; one advertisement was a comedy and the other
one was serious. The reactions of peers in class were that a serious
advertisement was engaging and emotional, whereas the comedy was taken
lightly and laughed about. The upstream cure would be the serious advert. It
was straight to the point about how dangerous it really is to text and drive;
by showing graphic and intense advertisements to stop. This would be a
preventative way to stop the issue. The downstream would be the comedy
because its more of a be aware but its not that bad advertisement. The
point of the serious advert is more likely to promote safer driving than a
funny advert.
After becoming more familiar with what health promotion means, I am
able to understand that there are different approaches to health matters. I
realise that not every method will work on particular aspects of health. That
is where it is important to have these health policies to allow for the most
suitable way to hopefully educate and encourage better health in society. I
understand that there is more to health promotion than just food. There are

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Kellie Quinton

Student ID: 2139560

policies that have been put in place. Those policies go through stages before
being implemented. Some of what the policies include is illness, life
insurance, smoking, drugs, obesity, cancer, disabilities and so on. There are
promotions that have better effect than others as discussed above about the
car accident advertisements.
The Inquiry Project enabled me to understand aspects of what can lead
someone into homelessness. Ive gathered that people often become
homeless due to their backgrounds. Those that have lived in lower socioeconomic areas are more likely to fall into hard places that they struggle to
get out of. It becomes more difficult to find a good career, especially if those
around them are also lacking in education, careers and housing. The choice
to be homeless is not just decided by an individual; surrounding factors like
social and economic structures influences homelessness. Sarah, a volunteer
coordinator at Hutt Street Centre explained a lot of this information to my
group. I found it incredibly interesting to hear that many of the homeless
people that were put into housing, lost those houses. This was usually
because they didnt know how to live in a house; they were then not close to
the support and community of a centre like Hutt Street. Many homeless
people have been homeless for so long that it is too hard to learn to live in a
house. This has greatly changed my understanding on why there are so
many homeless Australians. There is a great number that relapse to being
out on the street again because its the only life they know. Unfortunately,
governments in Australia have a lack of funding, resources and affordable
houses to help the majority of homeless people. The awareness that
communities have about this health issue is also fairly low and that impacts
how homelessness is managed (Beer & Prance 2013, p. 8-9).
This information changes my understanding because I used to believe it
was the homeless persons fault that they were living on a street. My
thoughts were why would you do this to yourself? Get a job, its not that
hard. However, it is notable that there are many more contributing factors
to this health issue after being a part of the Inquiry Project. Health education

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Kellie Quinton

Student ID: 2139560

should also be about why some issues are not easy to fix or why they cannot
be fixed.
After viewing the presentations in class, I was able to gain an
understanding of what groups were doing to promote different health issues.
It was interesting to see that each group had some way of showing the
positive aspects of their health issues and promoted what was good or bad.
My own groups project promoted ways to support and help homelessness in
Adelaide by handing out flyers. Other groups decided to present in front of
classes in schools or at aged care facilities. After the presentations, it is
obvious to see there is many areas of health that benefit from promotion,
whether it is in an individualist approach or structuralist. From viewing the
different presentations, I think that health education works better if it is
involved and engaging. The group that presented about smoking kept my
attention because they were able to get the class up and we were interested
in what they had to say. I believe that this type of education is more effective
than just handing out flyers. That is something I would do differently now if I
had the chance.
After being a part of Foundation Studies in Health Education, I have
come to realise that there are many factors contributing to health education.
A number of health issues have been created because of society, whereas
others are due to biological or psychological problems. Germov (2014, p. 6)
discusses that life expectancy is higher in Australia because of the working
and living conditions. This shows that the lower socio-economic areas are
more at risk of being ill and having premature deaths.
The sociological imagination is a way to determine health issues in
society. It connects peoples personal issues and links them with the public
that also struggle with the same troubles. The sociological imagination has
four contributing factors, which can determine why one problem occurs for
all the same people (Germov, 2014, pp. 7-8). We have also learnt about
class, gender and health in addition to food and indigenous health. In some
way or another, these health issues connect to one another. Food and class
can be linked. For example, a lower socio-economic area of lower class

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Kellie Quinton

Student ID: 2139560

residents may not have access to healthy foods or may not be able to afford
them, leading to health issues from lack of nutrition (Germov 2014, p. 87).
Gender related health problems could be biological or even due to the
workplace they are exposed to (Broom, Freij & Germov 2014, p. 126).
Health education is the understanding of what health issues are and
where they are come from. It is being able to acknowledge the contributing
factors and analysing how these issues occurred. There are policies like the
New Public Health approach that are in place to assist where possible for
society to be equally as able to access health help where required. Overall,
this topic has opened my eyes to an array of health sociology. I have gained
an understanding on how to improve health and the impact that health
promotion has on an individual and in a community.

Reference List
Beer, A & Prance, F 2013, Local government and homelessness in Australia:
Understanding the big picture, in Parity, vol. 26, no. 9, pp. 7-9.
Broom, D, Freij, M & Germov, J 2014, Gendered Health in in J. Germov (ed.)
Second Opinion, 5th edn, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne,
Australia.
Cragg, L, Davies, M & Macdowall, W 2013 History and concepts of health
promotion, in Health Promotion Theory, 2nd edn, Open University Press,
England.
Germov, J 2014, Imagining health problems as social issues, in Second
Opinion, 5th edn, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, Australia.

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Kellie Quinton

Student ID: 2139560

Germov, J 2014, The class origins of health inequality in Second Opinion,

5th edn, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, Australia.
Germov, J, Freij, M & Richmond, K 2014, A sociology of health promotion, in
J. Germov (ed.) Second Opinion, 5th edn, Oxford University Press, South
Melbourne, Australia.

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