Papers by Gillian Bendelow
Socoloiogy of Health and Illness, 1993
European Journal of Psychotherapy & Counselling, 2002
Using insights gleaned from the sociology of childhood to challenge prevailing conceptualizations... more Using insights gleaned from the sociology of childhood to challenge prevailing conceptualizations of children as emotionally ‘incomplete’ or ‘immature’ in relation to adults, this study demonstrates the interactive nature of the social order within primary schools and the centrality of emotional learning to children's everyday lives and relationships. Analysis of the qualitative data shows how children recognize the role of
Combining anecdotal accounts, inter-professional experiences, critical debate and practical point... more Combining anecdotal accounts, inter-professional experiences, critical debate and practical pointers to being a good observer, this book explores issues surrounding observation in social science-orientated research.
Health Education, 1996
Reports the findings from a study of young people’s knowledge of and attitudes towards cancer, an... more Reports the findings from a study of young people’s knowledge of and attitudes towards cancer, and their understanding of health and health‐related behaviours, the aim of which is to inform future health promotion work in this area. Finds, from the study of three inner city, suburban and rural schools involving 226 young people aged 15‐16, that young people know most about lung cancer, but there is also some understanding of other cancers, particularly breast and skin cancer and leukaemia. Reveals that smoking, pollution and other environmental factors are seen as the dominant causes of cancer, and the latter are more often mentioned by the inner city samples. Shows that young people appear to be more worried about unemployment than ill health, and that happiness comes before health as a priority in their lives. Finds television and the media to be the most important sources of information. Considers the implications of these findings for traditional approaches to health education a...
Medicine, Science & the Law, 2019
Background: The research addresses the controversially high rates of Section 136 (s136) detention... more Background: The research addresses the controversially high rates of Section 136 (s136) detentions across Sussex in collaboration with Sussex Police and the mental health trust (Sussex Partnership Trust), in order to understand the consistent patterning of a ratio of 2:1 detentions to police custody, rather than the 5 specialist NHS S136 suites.
Methods: Multi method study i) secondary analysis of existing s136 statistics collected by Sussex police and Sussex Partnership Trust ii) in depth interviews and deliberative workshop with 37 members of the public who had been detained under s136 iii) interviews, focus groups, and observations with 79 police officers 160 NHS and allied staff and voluntary workers.
Main outcome measures: social patterning and reasons for use of s136; differences in type of Place of Safety used and experience of users; impact of good practice and joint working strategies
Results: S136 is mainly used by police in Sussex as the only means of supporting suicidal and highly vulnerable people who are reported to be in extreme distress in public places when there is no other service available as the majority of incidents happen ‘out of hours’. Innovative inter agency policy and practice working, in particular the national ‘Street Triage’ pilot which was rolled out across Sussex during the life of the study, has produced successful interventions to reduce the use of s136, but complex factors such as repeated detentions of vulnerable and socially marginalised reveal some of the underlying complexity.
Conclusions: This study challenges some of the simplistic assumptions around the high rates of S136 detention, which can be reduced through effective joint agency interventions, but may always be needed as a life-saving ‘default mechanism’ in complex situations. Alongside the need for adequate resources to support sustain and increase effective alternatives to the use of s136, the study recommends that the voices of those with ‘lived experience’ must be included in developing effective interventions.
Doctoral thesis, Institute of Education, University of London., 1992
This research explores the relationship between perceptions of pain and illness and the social ch... more This research explores the relationship between perceptions of pain and illness and the social characteristics of the individual, with a focus on the role of gender. It emphasizes the meaning and understanding of the phenomenon of pain, which as an area of research has been neglected by medical sociology. A survey of sociological, medical, psychological, anthropological and literary perspectives on pain reveals a consensus that pain is a 'subjective' phenomenon, and that there are therefore limitations in applying 'objective' measurements. Recent developments in the sociology of health and illness, particularly in the area of emotions, offer potential theoretical and methodological frameworks and these are explored. To try to broaden the definition of pain beyond the traditional biomedical approach a multi-method form of enquiry was adopted. A self-completion questionnaire examining health beliefs, and experiences of illness and pain during the life-cycle, was administered to a random sample of 107 men and women attending a GP practice in North West London. Significant gender differences were found with respect to the role of the emotions and social expectations of coping ability. These themes formed the basis of the second stage of fieldwork, in which a sub-sample of 21 men and women participated in a semi-structured in-depth interview, including the use of visual imagery. This explored definitions and experiences of pain. Responses were taperecorded and transcribed. Analysis of both the transcripts and the material relating to the use of visual imagery revealed complex and abstract conceptualisations of pain, related to the social context of the individual. Expenences of pain were found to incorporate feelings and vulnerabilities, and existential and religious beliefs as well nociceptive or sensory components. The attribution to women of superior capacities in coping with pain were phenomenologically linked to female biological and reproductive functioning, but also seen to be underpinned by gendered socialization and role-expectations.
Wiley-Blackwell eBooks, Jan 20, 1997
What do we mean by 'gender' and how does this relate to health? How is 'biology' ... more What do we mean by 'gender' and how does this relate to health? How is 'biology' best understood? What does a focus on the division of labour bring to our understanding of health work? Is (gender) 'equity' in health possible? How have developments such as the resurgence of emotions and the new genetics affected these and other social relations at the turn of the century? These are just some of the questions addressed in Gender, Health and Healing in which a whole range of issues are brought together and connected to emerging concerns in contemporary life such as the new genetics and transformations in biomedical knowledge and practices. It offers a challenging assessment of gender relations and embodied practices across the public/private divide, using health and healing as paradigmatic examples.
Health education, Jun 1, 1996
Reports results from a study concerning children's knowledge of and attitudes towards cancer, and... more Reports results from a study concerning children's knowledge of and attitudes towards cancer, and their understanding of health and health-related behaviours, with the specific aim of informing future health promotion work. Using "draw and write" techniques, the findings indicate that these children possessed considerable health-related knowledge. Exercise and healthy eating were seen as the most important factors in keeping healthy, whereas smoking and bad diet were cited most often as representing unhealthy behaviour. However, both categories also included more general items,embracing both environmental and "individualistic" factors. Similarly, children appeared to possess considerable knowledge about cancer, particularly about lung cancer, but there was also some understanding of other cancers such as breast and skin cancer and leukaemia. Concerning sources of information, most of the children's knowledge about cancer appeared to derive from television and other media; in particular, soap operas appeared to exert a considerable influence on these young children. Considers the implications of these findings for traditional approaches to health education and the methodological issues involved in researching children's health. This study was funded by the Women's Nationwide Cancer Control Campaign (WNCC). In particular, we would like to thank the late Baroness Jane Ewart-Biggs, Dr Mary Buchanan, Dr O.A.N. Hussain, and Dame Josephine Barnes from the WNCC for their invaluable help and support. We should also like to thank members of the study's steering group, including Ann McPherson and
Health, 2000
Located within the context of recent debates about the body as both a material and socially const... more Located within the context of recent debates about the body as both a material and socially constructed entity, this article takes up these corporeal issues through a focus on children’s images and depictions of cancer. Key themes here include monstrous/demonic bodies, dys-figured/absent bodies, the combustible body, pathological bodies and mortal bodies. Under-pinning these representations, it is suggested, is a view of the primordial body as a ‘recalcitrant’, ‘transgressive’ entity; something with a ‘will of its own’ which, despite our best efforts, can go horribly wrong. A focus on issues of corporeal transgression, therefore, throws into critical relief the relationship between the material and the cultural, the physical and the social, the rational and the emotional. Explorations of malignant bodies, however culturally constituted, lie at the heart of this dialectic. The article concludes with a series of reflections on these issues, including the notion of children as active agents, the relationship between lay and scientific knowledge, and a view of the material body which is not only shaped by social relations, but enters into their very construction and transgression, as both a resource and constraint, a limit and opportunity.
Social Science & Medicine, Apr 1, 2003
... In clinical practice, implicit adherence to a model may interfere with team decision ... the ... more ... In clinical practice, implicit adherence to a model may interfere with team decision ... the situation and make unreasonable demands both on the service and on the patient. The influence of implicit models on processes of shared decision making between practitioners and patients. ...
Taylor & Francis eBooks, Feb 16, 2010
SAGE Publications Ltd eBooks, 2011
Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology, 2004
DIFFERING SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES of mental health and illness can be linked to theoretical con... more DIFFERING SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES of mental health and illness can be linked to theoretical contributions from Durkheim, Weber, Freud, Foucault, and Marx (social causation, labeling theory, critical theory, social constructivism, and social realism, respectively) but sociology in general, and medical sociology in particular, has often been accused of neglecting the field of mental health and illness. Certainly, as a discipline, it is unable to provide an overarching explanatory framework; rather, as Pilgrim and Rogers describe, “‘sedimented layers of knowledge which overlap unevenly in time and across disciplinary boundaries and professional preoccupations” (1999, 11). Nevertheless, since Durkheim’s (1964/1895) path-breaking insights as to the role of social processes on the norms and values of any society, sociologists have been concerned with distinctions between the normal and the pathological, as in Parsons’ (1951) analysis of illness as deviance. Although the limitations of functionalism have since been well documented, the implication that mental disorder as socially and culturally relative was developed further by Scheff’s concept of labeling theory (1999/1967) and, of course, was highly influential in the work of the anti-psychiatrists such as Laing (1963) and Szasz (1970) in viewing mental illness as the breaking of social, political, and ethical norms. In collaboration with sociologists of science, there is a strong tradition of challenging DSM and other psychiatric classifications to examine the social and political shaping of categories of mental disorder, including how they disappear and reappear (Brown 1990; Manning 2001). Busfield (2001, 2002) has made the distinction between disorders of behavior and disorders of thought, and, although Foucault’s (1967) analysis of reason and madness can be placed firmly in the latter camp, the emphasis on the social and cultural relativity remains. As a paradigm, social constructivism has been highly influential in the ‘deconstruction’ of psychiatric diagnosis and treatment, particularly in the development of feminist and anti-racist critiques and within other vulnerable social groups. It has probably also generated the most controversy—the notion of mental illness as a ‘social construct’ is widely used in lay terminology and even by some mental health professionals, as Fulford and Colombo’s research reveals. Whereas there have been enormous benefits in identifying the socially and politically controlling aspects of psychiatry which at worst, are an abuse of human rights, more recently, the dangers of the extremes of cultural reductionism have been recognized, not just by doctors, sufferers, and their families, but by sociologists themselves. Before his own tragic suicide, Peter Sedg-
Journal of Public Mental Health, Jun 10, 2014
Police in England and Wales are empowered, under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983 (s136)... more Police in England and Wales are empowered, under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983 (s136), to detain individuals who are thought to be a danger to themselves or to others. Use of this authority is widespread, but varies substantially across districts and attracts controversy, both because of inconsistent application, and by the fact that it requires the police to make judgements about mental health. To study attitudes to and criteria for using s136 from the unique perspective of the police, we conducted focus groups with 30 officers in both urban and rural areas of three different regions across England and Wales. Group interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analysed using open and axial coding. The results indicate that use of this authority has major implications for police work and officers in all regions. Liaison with mental health services, whilst essential, is often perceived as ineffective due to resource constraints and the lack of availability of appropriate 'places of safety', especially in rural areas. The decision to invoke s136 is further complicated in individual cases by factors such as drug and alcohol use and 'contested conditions' such as personality disorders. Police decisions thus reflect an implicit values-based classification of and response to emotionally-disturbed behaviour, in light of available institutional and social supports. Tasked primarily with protecting the public and keeping the peace, police acknowledge their 'diagnosis' of risk often contrasts with that of mental health professionals.
Pearson Education eBooks, 2000
This book presents an empirical research study which illustrates how sociological theories within... more This book presents an empirical research study which illustrates how sociological theories within the field of health and illness can greatly enhance the understanding of the complexities of pain perception. The relationship between beliefs about pain and the social characteristics of the individual is explored, with a focus on the role of gender in the process. There is an emphasis on the meaning and lay understanding of the phenomena of pain to which recent developments in the sociology of health and illness, particularly in the area of emotions and the body, offer potential theoretical and methodological frameworks. The findings of the study reflect the particular experiences of adult men and women living in a multi-ethnic inner-city area but also provide a basis for developing new approaches to the understanding of pain, and the relationship between pain, gender, culture and embodiment.
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Papers by Gillian Bendelow
Methods: Multi method study i) secondary analysis of existing s136 statistics collected by Sussex police and Sussex Partnership Trust ii) in depth interviews and deliberative workshop with 37 members of the public who had been detained under s136 iii) interviews, focus groups, and observations with 79 police officers 160 NHS and allied staff and voluntary workers.
Main outcome measures: social patterning and reasons for use of s136; differences in type of Place of Safety used and experience of users; impact of good practice and joint working strategies
Results: S136 is mainly used by police in Sussex as the only means of supporting suicidal and highly vulnerable people who are reported to be in extreme distress in public places when there is no other service available as the majority of incidents happen ‘out of hours’. Innovative inter agency policy and practice working, in particular the national ‘Street Triage’ pilot which was rolled out across Sussex during the life of the study, has produced successful interventions to reduce the use of s136, but complex factors such as repeated detentions of vulnerable and socially marginalised reveal some of the underlying complexity.
Conclusions: This study challenges some of the simplistic assumptions around the high rates of S136 detention, which can be reduced through effective joint agency interventions, but may always be needed as a life-saving ‘default mechanism’ in complex situations. Alongside the need for adequate resources to support sustain and increase effective alternatives to the use of s136, the study recommends that the voices of those with ‘lived experience’ must be included in developing effective interventions.
Methods: Multi method study i) secondary analysis of existing s136 statistics collected by Sussex police and Sussex Partnership Trust ii) in depth interviews and deliberative workshop with 37 members of the public who had been detained under s136 iii) interviews, focus groups, and observations with 79 police officers 160 NHS and allied staff and voluntary workers.
Main outcome measures: social patterning and reasons for use of s136; differences in type of Place of Safety used and experience of users; impact of good practice and joint working strategies
Results: S136 is mainly used by police in Sussex as the only means of supporting suicidal and highly vulnerable people who are reported to be in extreme distress in public places when there is no other service available as the majority of incidents happen ‘out of hours’. Innovative inter agency policy and practice working, in particular the national ‘Street Triage’ pilot which was rolled out across Sussex during the life of the study, has produced successful interventions to reduce the use of s136, but complex factors such as repeated detentions of vulnerable and socially marginalised reveal some of the underlying complexity.
Conclusions: This study challenges some of the simplistic assumptions around the high rates of S136 detention, which can be reduced through effective joint agency interventions, but may always be needed as a life-saving ‘default mechanism’ in complex situations. Alongside the need for adequate resources to support sustain and increase effective alternatives to the use of s136, the study recommends that the voices of those with ‘lived experience’ must be included in developing effective interventions.