Overdiagnosis and overtreatment
A Sociological Perspective on Tackling a Contemporary Healthcare Issue
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2249804 |
|---|---|
| Authors | N Armstrong (0000-0003-4046-0119, Social Science Applied to Health Improvement Research (SAPPHIRE) Group Department of Health Sciences University of Leicester Leicester UK, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 43 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 58-64 |
| Publication date | 2021-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Sociology of Health & Illness (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0141-9889 • E-ISSN: 1467-9566 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/1467-9566.13186 |
| PMID | 32964516 |
| OpenAlex | W3088553696 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 32 |
Overdiagnosis and overtreatment are increasingly discussed as a significant problem in contemporary healthcare but are yet to receive any significant sociological attention, over and above that which is arguably transferable from the medicalisation literature. Overdiagnosis and overtreatment are often constructed as problems best addressed by educating patients and clinicians, and improving the relationships between them. The emergence of tools seeking to support decision-making and to facilitate patients' asking questions about whether interventions are really necessary supports this conceptualisation. This article questions whether significant traction on overdiagnosis and overtreatment is possible through these means alone, arguing that even when professionals and patients may wish to do less rather than more, the system within which care is delivered and received can make this challenging to achieve. Drawing on Scott's (Sociology, 2018, 52, 3) 'sociology of nothing', the article demonstrates that a sociological perspective on overdiagnosis and overtreatment recasts them as issues that must be understood as a consequence of the organisational, financial and cultural attributes of the system, not just individual interactions, and advances a research agenda for the area
Engineering ethics · Epistemology · Health care · Nothing · Overdiagnosis · Perspective (graphical · Political science · Psychological intervention · Sociology · Engineering · Healthcare cost, quality, practices · Healthcare Systems and Challenges · Law · Medicine · Mental Health and Psychiatry · Nursing
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| Unique citing works | 7 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,75 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2026 (5) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 7 |