4.1. Basic scientific branches and disciplines of sociology of medicine
There is no final and generally accepted structurized system of medico-sociological knowledge subdividing it into branches and disciplines.
In foreign countries, the basic branches of sociology of medicine comprise the following:
• sociology of medical education;
• family, marriage, and their influence on morbidity;
• work and lifestyle;
• doctors and patients;
• organization of hospital services and overall healthcare system;
• social roots of the diseases;
• physicians and society;
• sociology of medical profession; etc.
However, the content analysis of scientific theses and medico-sociological studies concludes that in reality, sociology of medicine focuses on still larger numbers of scientific themes demonstrating the trend to further expand the research field and encompass other numerous facets of sociology of health and disease. The following branches in the research activity in sociology of medicine can be conventionally outlined:
• peculiarities of individual and group behavior in social environment related to attitude in protection, maintenance, and promotion of health and prevention of diseases;
• changes in the content and forms of medical activity in dependence on the level of development and the structure of public needs;
• activity of health workers;
• the study of methodological, social-biological, anthropo-ecological, political and economic problems of disease, health, medicine, and public health.
In connection with the above reasoning, the following branches of sociology of medicine are specified according to the focuses of the studies. The thematic list of the conducted investigations shows the degree of completeness in the description of sociomedical reality, the field of scientific interests, and the scientific effectiveness of the research work. Evidently, this approach is not ideal because the system of sociology of