Inequalities in Health and Illness Assignment | Top Essay Writing
Inequalities in Health and Illness.
I am expecting an excellent work product at the end. PLEASE READ VERY CAREFULLY ALL THE QUESTIONS: You must apply the case study to each of the questions in the essay. As a final point, a bibliography should be a comprehensive list of all of the sources you used during your research—NO plagiarism and stick to the word count. Although i have provided my notes, extensive research should to investigated as well.
ESSAY
An essay is a short piece of writing about a particular subject or topic. Essays usually appear as a continuous piece of writing broken into paragraphs with section headings included where appropriate. Essays have a set structure which comprises of four main parts; introduction, main body, conclusion, references and bibliography.
There are a number of steps to take when preparing to write an essay.
- The first thing you need to do is to understand what you are being asked to explore and any potential implications or ideas contained within the question/assignment brief. Avoid the temptation to dive straight into writing your essay. You need to read the question/assignment brief carefully underlining or highlighting any key words. If you have been asked to analyse a case study then you will need to read the case study on multiple occasions to ensure that you have identified the key points and issues. It is really important that you fully understand what is being asked of you before you do anything else.
- Once you have a clearer idea of what you are being asked to do divide any notes or ideas that you have into separate items. If it helps, use a different sheet for each topic that you feel is relevant to the assignment brief. These separate notes sheets will form the main paragraphs of your essay once you have added to them with further reading and research.
- The most challenging part of writing an essay is building a clear and logical structure so try rearranging your notes by grouping related information (use colour coding if it helps), then put them into a logical order.
- Write an outline essay plan using the topics/notes you have grouped and put in order. This will help you to have a better idea of the material you intend to cover and enable you to be more selective when reading, researching and note taking. You can adapt your plan as you go along if required.
- When researching or reading around the subject area you should make use of the additional reading list provided in ‘Extended Learning’ and refer to your study materials. Your note taking should enable you to consider a range of views and examine information sources in order to highlight any similarities or differences. You can then use this within your essay to analyse, compare and discuss the topic in more detail. Background research and reading will help you to respond appropriately to the requirements of the assignment brief and demonstrate your ability to select relevant material.
- When you have completed your reading and research you need to organise the information you have gathered. Add any relevant information to each of your notes sheets where appropriate. Remember that each set (or sheet) of notes represents a main paragraph within your essay.
- Write the first draft of your essay following the set structure.
It is important to mention here that the style of language you need to use should be considered as academic writing and therefore more carefully considered than everyday speech. Refer to the table below for guidance:
| LANGUAGE YOU SHOULD USE | YOU SHOULD AVOID |
| BE CONCISE | SWEEPING CLAIM OR STATEMENT |
| DISTINGUISH FACT FROM FICTION | NO ANYTHING CHATTY |
| FORMAL ENGLISH | COLLOQUIALISM |
| NO I, WE,YOU | |
| ABBREVATION OR TEXT SPEAK | |
The four main parts that make up an essay are: introduction, main body, conclusion, references and bibliography.
Introduction
The introduction needs to include a brief outline of your understanding of the question or assignment brief, your approach to the question or methodology, and the content you intend to cover. The introduction should be about one tenth of the total essay length. Your main aim here is to provide context for the ideas which will be discussed in the main body of the essay.
Main body
This must be written in paragraphs and each one should contain one topic or theme, backed up by supporting analysis and your own views. You should include the ideas and writings of other authors to support your analysis, ensuring that you use citation and referencing in order to avoid plagiarism. This is your opportunity to demonstrate skills in selecting, organising, interpreting and analysing material relevant to the assignment brief.
You must try to maintain a logical structure and flow to your ideas. Some assignments will ask for your personal judgement or opinion but this alone will not be sufficient to form the substance of an essay. You will therefore need to underpin your thoughts with evidence which you have identified as part of your reading or research. Remember, you are being assessed on your ability to consider different viewpoints and evaluate different sources of information.
Paragraphs within the main body should link together and eventually lead to a logical and well-considered conclusion. The first paragraph should cover the first thing that your introduction said that you would address. The first sentence of this paragraph introduces the main idea of the paragraph with other sentences developing the topic further including evidence, quotations and references. The end of this paragraph leads to the next paragraph. All other paragraphs should follow this format; this will ensure that the content of your essay flows in a logical manner.
Conclusion
This should be a summary of the content essay highlighting the conclusion of your analysis. The conclusion should be about one tenth of the total essay length. All essays should lead to a conclusion which is well-considered and draws together the ideas examined in the main body. Where the assignment brief asks you to express your personal opinion, this can be presented most fully in the conclusion. Depending on the requirements of the assignment you could also include recommendations for future action or research within the final paragraph of your essay.
References and Bibliography
You must include a references list and bibliography at the end of your essay. Please check your assignment brief as you may not always be required to provide a bibliography.
A references list is a list of all the information sources that you have directly referred to, paraphrased or quoted within your essay. You only need to include the sources which you have used within your text and you should use the Harvard referencing system. Remember to check that you have used citation (author surname, year) within your work and that these link to the sources contained in your references list.
A bibliography is a list of everything you have read for the assignment whether or not you have directly referred to it in your writing. This is required in addition to your references list and is always presented in the alphabetical order of author surnames. You bibliography will need to include the sources contained in your references list.
Your first draft will need to be proof read and amended at least once before you have a final version that you feel you can submit. You should review your work for both content and presentation, ensuring that you allow enough time to make any necessary changes before the submission date.
Consider the following when checking your work:
- Is the work organised and presented in a logical and coherent way?
- Does the content contain any gaps, inaccurate information or incomplete analysis?
- Do the paragraphs flow?
- Have you checked the spelling and grammar?
- Do you understand what you have written? If you don’t, then your tutor is likely to struggle as well!
- Have you kept within the given word limit?
- Have you kept a copy of the final version that you will submit?
| Essay Section | Things To Check |
| The Question/Assignment Brief |
|
| Paragraphs |
|
| Sequencing |
|
| Ideas |
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| Introduction and conclusion |
|
| References |
|
ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS: PLEASE READ VERY CAREFULLY:You must apply the case study to each of the questions outlined below.
About this Unit
You are required to write an essay that demonstrates your understanding of the inequalities in health and illness. A case study has been provided for you to use as the basis of your essay.
Before you begin, you are advised to read the case study a number of times in order to make note of the pertinent issues. You should then research the subject area more widely.
This unit is graded; you will therefore be awarded with a Pass, Merit or Distinction once you have successfully achieved all of the learning outcomes and assessment criteria. Refer to the grid below for the grade descriptors and indicators for Merit and Distinction.
Remember: this assignment has to be all your own work. Whilst properly referenced content is fine and encouraged, any work that is not wholly your own effort has to be acknowledged as such and correctly referenced using the Harvard format.
Section 1: Assignment
1
Question: You must apply the case study to each of the areas outlined below. REFER TO CASE STUDY AT THE END.
You are required to write an essay that demonstrates your understanding of the inequalities in health and illness.
A case study ( Assessors Case Study) has been provided for you to use as the basis of your essay. You can also access a copy in the “Download Assessor Guidance” section below.
Your essay must include the following in relation to the issues presented in the case study:
• Outline the impact of social, economic and environmental developments to changes in morbidity and mortality in the UK.
• Explain patterned inequalities in health and illness.
• Evaluate sources of evidence with regards to protected characteristics, for example, gender, ethnicity and age.
• Evaluate the relationship between theories of health and welfare inequalities and their impact on the development of health policies.
You must apply the case study to each of the areas outlined above. REFER TO CASE STUDY BELOW.
Guidance
The essay should be written in paragraphs which flow; it is therefore recommended that you plan your essay before you start to write it. Refer to the essay guidance.
You must attempt to include some conclusions and recommendations towards the end of your essay.
Relevant theory must be referenced where appropriate and a references list and bibliography provided.
The essay should be a maximum of 2,000 words in length.
This word limit is the absolute maximum you are permitted. If you are over the word limit for this assignment in any way you will receive your assignment back without further comment or feedback.
Assessor Case study – Brook Road, a tale of three families
Brook Road is a busy street in run-down part of a large midlands town, and the residents are a mix of different ages, ethnicities and social classes. Residents say that the top end of the street, next to the park, is where “the posh people” live, and the bottom end, near the shops and petrol station, is where the people with lower incomes live. The houses at the top end are bigger and tend to be owner-occupied, whereas the terraced houses at the bottom end have mainly been divided into flats and are rented out.
The traffic is busier near the shops, and the petrol station and garage cause congestion at busy times of the day. The scrap yard operates from 6am to 6pm six days a week and the noise is horrendous. The residents have complained, but nothing has been done.
At the top end, things are quieter as there are no shops or factories and the park provides a large green open space.
This case study looks at the lives of the people living in three of the houses in Brook Street.
The Bradleys – an elderly couple who live close to the shops at the bottom end of the road. They have been married for over 60 years and have always lived at number 4 Brook Road, and they can remember when the road was quieter and all the residents looked out for each other. They have four children who have all left home. Three have moved away, but their youngest daughter lives fairly close-by and pops in now and then to see if they need anything.
Bert is 89 years old and is starting to have memory problems. He doesn’t get out much as he has a series of mobility issues, including arthritis, so he spends his days watching TV and looking out of the window. He smokes about 10-15 cigarettes a day and likes to have a couple of bottles of stout each evening.
Iris is 87 and is fairly overweight. She has Type 2 diabetes which is not wellcontrolled as she doesn’t attend the diabetes clinic as it is too far away. Her diabetes has affected her eyesight and kidney function and she has problems with painful feet. She gets out when she can as the shops are close, but tends to buy quick and cheap food rather than foods that are healthy.
The Bradleys tend not to visit the doctor or dentist as they don’t think they need to. Their daughter buys them paracetamol and other over-the-counter drugs if they need them.
The house has not been touched for over thirty years and is described by neighbours as being in a bad state. They sleep downstairs, so upstairs is damp and dirty.
The Khans – a married couple with four children aged 1, 3, 5 and 7, and Mrs Khan is expecting her 5th child. Mr Khan works for a local builder and he does as much
overtime as he can get. Mrs Khan stays at home to look after the children, two of them are at school and two of them are with her all day.
The Khans are generally healthy but the 7-year old has been diagnosed with severe asthma so is having frequent visits to the GP asthma clinic. Mrs Khan is very anxious about this so needs plenty of help and support. The midwife is keeping an eye on Mrs Khan’s blood pressure as it is slightly raised, possibly due to stress about her child’s asthma.
Money is tight for the family but they eat well and the children are well cared for. Just recently there have been a couple of racist incidents in the area, with some name calling. This has added to their stress levels.
The Huntleys – a married couple with two teenaged children aged 15 and 17. Mr Huntley works for an insurance company and has to commute for an hour to get to his office. He is out of the house from 7am – 7pm, sometimes later. His company is making staff redundant on a regular basis, so he is working longer hours in the hope he will keep his job. He has been getting more and more stressed, but doesn’t feel he can talk to his wife about it. He grabs fast food options which he eats at his desk, so he is putting on weight.
The children are at secondary school and Mrs Huntley works part-time as a teaching assistant in the local primary school.
Their marriage is not good, so Mrs Huntley has been prescribed anti-depressants by her GP. She won’t admit it, but she is also drinking more than she should and often wakes up with a hangover.
Her 17-year old son has been dabbling in various recreational drugs, but has recently been offered some harder drugs. He has started to find school boring and has been bunking off.
The house is very modern clean and is regularly decorated as Mrs Huntley likes things to look good.
7 pages / 1925 words
