Sociology of Health and Illness in Ireland

• Part 1 Sociology, health and illness: why should nurses bother with sociology?, Sam Porter; from bio-medicine to holistic health, Vincent Tucker; conceptions of health and illness in Ireland, Desmond McCluskey; ethical and social implications of technology in medicine, Orla O'Donnell. Part 2 Inequalities in health care: social class differences in lifestyle and health characteristics in Ireland, Claire Collins and Emer Shelley; unemployment and health, Brian Nolan and Christopher T. Whelan. Part 3 Health issues and life course: the medicalization of childbearing norms - encounters between unmarried pregnant women and medical personnel in an Irish context, Abbey Hyde; beyond the moral panic - results from a study of teenage pregnancy, Andrew Finlay, Dorothy Whittington, Nicola Shaw and Monica McWilliams; contesting concepts of care - the case of the home help service in Ireland, O'Donovan, Orla; older people and life-course construction in Ireland, Ricca Edmondson. Part 4 Mental health; alcoholism in Ireland, Tanya M. Cassidy; gender differences in mental disorder in Ireland, Anne Cleary; the asylum in Ireland - a brief institutional history and some local effects, A. Jamie Saris.

"interesting, wide ranging and stimulating in terms of the research questions introduced ... it will be useful for those involved in teaching undergraduates studying sociology and social policy as well as health and social work professionals in training." Pauline M. Prior Queen's University, Belfast Irish Journal of Sociology 7 1997