Risk, Health and Health Care: A Qualitative Approach

Increased accountability means that health and social care professionals are having to pay greater attention to risk management. In attempting to deal with risks they cannot avoid drawing upon assumptions, often uncritically taken for granted, both about the nature of risk, and about the ways in which service users themselves approach risks. This timely book critically explores lay and professional understanding of health risks.
Part One provides a theoretical overview of the concept of risk, drawing on philsophical, historical, and social scientific ideas. Part Two contains illustrative examples of original research, mostly qualitative, which examines the ways in which a wide range of client groups and professionals deal with health risks. Part Three offers broader critical discussions of risk management in a number of fields of health and social care. The clients groups discussed in the book include hospital patients, preganant women, the elderly, children at possible risk of abuse and people with diabetes, learning disabilities, dementia and serious mental health problems. The main professional groups considered are nurses, midwives, health promotion specialists, and social workers.