Illness Behavior Interview

Illness Behavior Interview

I interviewed my friend to learn about his illness behavior for this assignment. His name is Mike (a pseudonym). He is Asian and he comes from China. Now, he is 20 years old. After I interview him, I identity a theme: the concept of sick role, which is offered by Parsons, is simplistic. People can criticize and supplement the concept from different aspects.

Before I introduce the theme, I will describe the interview process. I asked Mike five questions during the interview: What do you do when you’re not feeling well? When did you last illness? Who do you talk to when you’re sick? What do you want that person to say (what does that person actually say)? What do you avoid doing when you are sick? How do you determine when you’re too sick to go to class and/or work? And his answer can be summarized as follows: He has a healthy body, and

In fact, his view proves that the concept of the sick role of Parsons is too simple. Parsons believes that the concept of "sick role" includes four elements: the patient has the rights to reduce or waive the daily social responsibility; patient has no responsibility for his/her disease state; patient should try to make his/her own get well; patient should adopt appropriate methods to overcome the disease. However, the definition of Parsons is simplistic for the case of Mike. This is because sometimes the patient 's disease is not serious, or he has chronic. At that time, the patient 's normal social responsibility should not be exempt. For Mike, his illness is not serious, and he also does not need to see a doctor. He only needs to sleep to feel better. Therefore, he should not refuse to complete the works and go to class. However, Mike thinks the patient (sick role) has the right get rid of all the work. Thus, it proves that the concept of sick role still is not perfect. There also are many details can be