February 2017 – Emma Bowie Society & Lifestyles

February 22, 2017

At Risk Behaviours and Society

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During this weeks lecture and tutorials we spoke about at risk behaviour within the society, the main six being;

Injuries
Tobacco
Alcohol
Sexual Behaviour
Dietary Patterns
Lack of Physical Activity

We spoke about the affect that these behaviour have on the society and on your lifestyle. We also looked at the four levels of influence and how they linked to these behaviours; individual/family, school/peers, community, policy/society. Our main points of focus were on ‘The Glasgow Effect’ and ‘To what extent are Scottish people healthy?’, this blog will discuss the two further.

‘The Glasgow Effect’

The Glasgow Effect focuses on investagating why equally deprived UK areas experience different health outcomes. It focuses on comparing factors such as income, health and mortality rates. Briefly The Glasgow Effect states that people living in Glasgow tend to die younger and have poorer health than other place such as Manchester and Liverpool who are equally as deprived.

One reason that the researched thought people in Glasgow were dying so young was due to income. The mortality rate for under 65 year olds in Glasgow was almost 30% higher than the two comparing cities. However after the research was completed they found that the cities being studied were in fact equally deprived in terms of income, with just over 20% of the population in Glasgow, Manchester and Liverpool being classed as ‘income deprived’. Thus proving that low income is not the only reason for such a peak in mortality rates in Glasgow.

A second factor investigated in the Glasgow Effect is the lack of physical and healthy lifestyle. In Glasgow alcohol related death are 19.5% higher than Manchester and Liverpool and drug related deaths are 8% higher. This has an ongoing effect, not only for the adults but for the children that are growing up witnessing this and thinking that it is acceptable behaviour to binge drink and take drugs. This does at stated cause a large number of deaths each year and I feel like this has a snowball effect on the younger generations.

In conclusion it appears that there is no definite reason as to why people in Glasgow have this problem surrounding them, there are however many reasons and factors that are suggested – most of which could be rectified.

‘To what extent are Scottish people healthy?’

‘The Sick Man of Europe’, Scotland have unfortunately managed to be tagged with this title. We are notoriously known for binge drinking, smoking and eating deep fried mars bars, and perhaps this is why. Personally I think it is unfair to categorise everyone living here at ‘unhealthy’, although there are many arguments to suggest otherwise.

Linking with this stereotype of what Scottish people eat and drink two thirds of us are overweight or obese. The number of men that are gaining significant weight has risen by 9% since 2003 and with women rising by 13% it would be fair to say that compared to other countries we do have more of a problem with obesity. The NHS Scotland are annually spending roughly £600 million to treat overweight of obese people. However for a number of years now schools around Scotland have started getting the children to run a ‘daily mile’. At any time in the school day children will be asked to put down their pencils and run a mile around the school grounds. I witnessed this on a recent placement I was on and the children reacted very well to it, I would even go as far to say that they enjoyed it. I think this is a great way of making sure that children are getting enough daily exercise, I also think this will encourage them to continue staying active outside school and into their adult life.

On the up side we have managed slowly but surely beat the smoking habits with the introduction of ‘vaping’ and electronic cigarettes. Now 21% of adults smoke in comparison to 28% of adults in 2003. In turn this is decreasing the number of children that are exposed to second hand smoke. This may be due to a law being introduced in 2015 making it illegal for an adults to smoke in a car with a child under the age of 18. From 10% in 2014 to 6% in 2016, this is a step in the right direction for improving the health of children and adults across Scotland. This is one of the reasons as to why I think it is unfair to name everyone in Scotland as being unhealthy, as 79% of adults do not smoke.

Overall I think that compared to other countries Scotland’s health statistics are as a whole lower, although, after research, when asked ‘To what extent are Scottish people healthy?’ I would say that it depends on individual people and factors not just based on the country as a whole.

February 9, 2017

Inclusion and Equality – Focus on Disability

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Overall from todays lecture and tutorials I have learned how important it is to make sure that people with disabilities, physical or not, are getting equal opportunities. This session highlighted how far disabled people have come in their fight to be treated the same as everyone else. In ancient times disabled people were often killed or sent to homes or other institutes as they were ‘different’ to the others around them. This thankfully has evolved, although not as much as some may hope. Some places around the world still don’t offer lifts or ramps for people in wheelchairs meaning they are not getting the same opportunities as those that can walk. Another thing that I found very interesting, and another main concept that was covered today, was that not everyone is born with a disability, it can be acquired over time, which I think is important for everyone to understand.

At first when the universal design was brought up I was struggling to comprehend how it would work or look. After looking it up on the internet and asking my peers and lecturer about this topic I grew a further understanding of how it would work. I also looked online to find some pictures of the universal design being used on some buildings. This helped me to comprehend it and understand it further.

A definite skill that will need to be improved for the exam and for the future is my language that I use when discussing the topic disability. I feel like I need to do more research and reading on the appropriate langue to use while talking about this topic to ensure I do not offend anyone. I think especially when I become a teacher this is something I will need to keep in mind as, “at least 15 per cent of the world’s people have a signiﬁcant, long-term, physical or mental impairment that can and usually does disable them from taking part in the usual educational” (Rieser, 2012, p. 159), and so this is a rising problem that I am sure to encounter in my future career.

I feel like overall I understood everything very well as I was engaged and interested in what we were learning. As I previously said this is a very relevant topic that everyone should be aware of, and especially in schools I think children should be taught this from a young age to help there understanding of the term and to make them treat everyone in their class and community equally.

February 2, 2017

Inclusion and Equality

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From this lecture the main concepts that I learned was exactly what inclusion and equality mean. Previous to this input I would have said that the two terms meant the same thing, although after today I have released that while they were closely linked they have two separate meanings. I have also widened my knowledge on the Equality Act. I had learnt about this in school although it was good to refresh my memory and discuss the importance of it. Another thing that I found very interesting was the Allport’s scale of prejudice and discrimination. I feel like I really understood all the different stages, such as Antilocution and Extermination, and it something that I will continue to look into in the future.

I feel like I have understood all of the main concepts discussed today, however I feel further reading is required on topics such as the PCS analysis, to widen my understanding in order for me to be able to put it into practice in the future. I will visit the library and look for online articles that explain this in more depth.

I feel like my skills have been developed as I have been exposed to langue that I may not have necessarily used, this should improve and benefit me in the way I write in the exam.

I feel like overall this topic was very interesting and I learnt a lot that I hope to use in the future. I think that clarification of what is expected of me from next weeks lecture will put me more at ease. I think that this was all very relevant to the 21st century (equality) and with further background reading I hope to widen my knowledge in all areas discussed today so that I can apply it in years to come.