HEALTH CAPABILITY: AN ATTEMPT TO CLARIFY AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH FOR HEALTH SOCIOLOGY
Keywords:
Capability approach, Health, Quality of lifeAbstract
Understanding health is a major issue for humanities and social sciences. As its traditional definition dates back to 1948, there is a need to rethink this concept. The capability approach questions what people are actually able to do and be given their real opportunities. In the domain of health, researchers in health ethics and health economics have begun to take a capability approach to study the capacity to make informed choices, or to find broader indicators for the economic evaluation of health interventions. Finally, the recent « Health Capability Paradigm » (Ruger 2010) draws on the philosophical, political and economic theories which have attempted to uncover the dimensions which underlie the capability to achieve a state of optimal health. Paradoxically, despite the undeniable importance of this concept, no research has enabled its operationalization. Our aims are to present the capability approach by describing its general principles, describe a selection of studies based on this approach in the domain of health, analyse Ruger?s Health Capability Paradigm and suggest possible research perspectives to this paradigm.References
Achtziger, A., Gollwitzer, P.M. (2008). Motivation and volition in the course of action. Bibliothek der Universität Konstanz.
Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50 (2), 179–211.
Al-Janabi, H., Flynn, T.N. and Coast, J. (2012). Development of a self-report measure of capability wellbeing for adults: the ICECAP-A. Quality of Life Research,21 (1), 167–76.
Al-Janabi, H., Keeley, T., Mitchell, P. and Coast, J. (2013). Can capabilities be selfreported? A think aloud study. Social Science and Medicine,87, 116–22.
Alkire, S. (2005). Valuing freedoms: Sen’s capability approach and poverty reduction. Oxford University Press.
Anand, P. (2005). Capabilities and health. Journal of Medical Ethics,31(5), 299–303.
Anand, P., Hunter, G., Carter, I., Dowding, K., Guala, F. and Van Hees, M. (2009). The development of capability indicators. Journal of Human Development and Capabilities,10(1), 125–52.
Anand, P., Hunter, G. and Smith, R. (2005). Capabilities and well-being: evidence based on the Sen–Nussbaum approach to welfare. Social Indicators Research, 74 (1), 9–55.
Bandura, A. (2001). Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective. Annual Review of Psychology, 52 (1), 1–26.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard University Press.
Brooks, R. (1996). EuroQol: the current state of play. Health Policy, 37 (1), 53–72.
Bucki, B. (2014). Health capability of family caregivers: Analyses of the paradigm and means of operationalization. University of Lorraine and university of Luxembourg, Metz, France.
Coast, J., Flynn, T.N., Natarajan, L., Sproston, K., Lewis, J., Louviere, J.J., Peters, T.J. (2008). Valuing the ICECAP capability index for older people. Social Science and Medicine,67 (5), 874–82.
Cookson, R. (2005). QALYs and the Capability Approach. Health Economics,14 (8), 817–29.
Csikszentmihalyi, I.S. (1992). Optimal experience: Psychological studies of flow in consciousness. Cambridge University Press.
Engel, G.L. (1977). The need for a new medical model: a challenge for biomedicine. Science, 196 (4286), 129–36.
Fins, J. (2012). Health Justice: An Argument from the Capabilities Approach.Journal of the American Medical Association,307 (19), 2106.
Godin, G. (2012).Les comportements dans le domaine de la santé : comprendre pour mieux intervenir. Presses de l?Université de Montréal.
Guinchard, P., Petit, J.-F. (2011). Une société de soins: santé, travail, philosophie, politique. Editions de l?Atelier.
Kinghorn, P.B. (2010). Developing a Capability Approach to Measure and Value Quality of Life: An application to chronic pain. University of East Anglia.
Krieger, N. (2011). Ecosocial Theory of Disease Distribution: embodying societal & ecologic context, in: Epidemiology and the People’s Health: Theory and Context. Oxford University Press, New York.
Kuklys, W., Robeyns, I. (2005). Sen’s capability approach to welfare economics. Springer.
Lorgelly, P.K., Lorimer, K., Fenwick, E., Briggs, A.H. (2008). The Capability Approach: developing and instrument for evaluating public health interventions. Section of Public Health and Health Policy, University of Glasgow.
Meier, B.M., Brugh, K.N., Halima, Y. (2012). Conceptualizing a Human Right to Prevention in Global HIV/AIDS Policy.Public Health Ethics,5 (3), 263–82.
Mulvaney-Day, N.E., Womack, C.A., Oddo, V.M. (2012). Eating on the run. A qualitative study of health agency and eating behaviors among fast food employees. Appetite,59 (2), 357–63.
Nussbaum, M.C. (2011).Creating capabilities. Harvard University Press.
Prochaska, J.O., DiClemente, C.C. (1992). The transtheoretical approach.Handbook of Psychotherapy Integration, 2, 147–71.
Program on mental health. World Health Organization (1994).Life skills education for children and adolescents in schools. Introduction and guidelines to facilitate the development and implementation of life skills programmes. World Health Organization, Geneva.
Rosenstock, I.M. (1974). The health belief model and preventive health behavior. Health Education and Behavior, 2 (4), 354–86.
Ruger, J.P. (2010a).Health and social justice. Oxford University Press, USA.
Ruger, J.P. ( 2010b). Health capability: conceptualization and operationalization. American Journal of Public Health,100 (1), 41–9.
Ryan, R.M., Deci, E.L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being.American Psychologist, 55 (1), 68.
Schwarzer, R. (1992).Self-efficacy in the adoption and maintenance of health behaviors: Theoretical approaches and a new model. Hemisphere Publishing Corp.
Sen, A. (1992).Inequality reexamined. Clarendon Press.
Sen, A. (1993). Capability and well-being.TheQuality of Life,1 (9), 30–54.
Triandis, H.C. (1979).Values, attitudes, and interpersonal behavior, in: Nebraska Symposium on Motivation.
Venkatapuram, S. (2011).Health Justice. Polity Press.
Womack, C.A. (2013). Ethical and epistemic issues in direct-to-consumer drug advertising: where is patient agency?Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, 1–6.
Wonderling, D., Sawyer, L., Fenu, E., Lovibond, K., Laramée, P. (2011). National Clinical Guideline Centre Cost-Effectiveness Assessment for the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. Annals of Internal Medicine,154 (11), 758–65.
