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Editorial
Jane Shoebridge
Nursing (Social Science), Faculty of Health Sciences, Flinders University of South Australia, SA
Eileen Willis
School of Medicine, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA
Abstract
This first issue for 2004 sees the publication of the second symposium on women's health guest edited by Lynne Hunt from Edith Cowan University and Bev McNamara from the University of Western Australia. The six papers cover a diversity of topics on the subjects of teenage pregnancy; heart disease; the health status of rural and remote women, in Australia and in Papua New Guinea; the emotional torment of many women refugees to Australia from Africa; and changes in drinking patterns among immigrant women from Poland. Hunt and McNamara's symposium editorial is an important essay. They show how feminist consciousness can be put to practice to produce research of high quality, as in these symposium papers; and, if we add the symposium on breast health (Health Sociology Review (2003) volume 12/2), the combined research quantum reveals not only the well-being of the contemporary women's health movement but also the continuing need to challenge much of mainstream medical research with its impoverished attitude to women and their health.
Other papers in this issue include Simon Kitto's account of teaching strategies for fostering the sociological imagination with medical students and Clarissa Cook's 'Who cares about Marx?' In many ways the papers by Kitto and Cook exemplify two different approaches to teaching sociology to health professionals. Kitto's paper is a sociology in medicine, Cook's a sociology of medicine. Kitto tells how he and colleagues attempt to illustrate to medical students how the sociological imagination might help them see their patients in a new and more compassionate light. Cook's paper illustrates some ways in which classical theory helps us all - patient and professional alike - to understand the politics of health care and the medical profession.
Over the last few months our publisher, James Davidson of eContent Management P/L, has worked with us to bring an international dimension to the editorial board. We have been pleased at the positive response from the highly regarded sociologists, social theorists, and social workers who have agreed to join the board especially those from Asia, the Pacific, Europe and the Americas. We have already started to use their expertise as referees, book reviewers and in generating papers. Health Sociology Review is now sufficiently differentiated from US and British journals of Health Sociology. We hope that their participation will further strengthen the journal's aims of publishing quality papers in the sociology of health and illness, social research, equity and social welfare.
The journal prides itself for having an efficient reviewing process with the average time between submission and publication of accepted papers currently around twelve months. We welcome the submission of papers on any theme of interest to health sociologists, social theorists, social workers or those engaging in health care policy. Author guidelines are printed inside the back cover and can also be found at the journal web page www.healthsociologyreview.com via the site map.
In December 2003, we presented the Journal's Annual Report to the Australian Sociological Association Annual General Meeting and to the Health Section Interest Group. The Report outlines plans for the forthcoming year and appears in full on the TASA (www.TASA.org.au) and Journal (www.healthsociologyreview.com) web pages.
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