Social suffering and gaps in alternative health care for vulnerable women workers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of social suffering among a non-random sample of Canadian women working in socially and economically marginalized “frontline” service occupations. Participants identified a number of health concerns that they link to the everyday suffering they endure – i.e. feeling inadequate, incompetent, lonely, self-conscious, disenfranchised or dissatisfied. The complex etiology of these women's suffering bars many from finding appropriate health care. As a result, there are health disparities among our vulnerable populations. While they often articulated a desire for alternative/complementary care, the Canadian health care system does not currently fund these services and many of the women are unable to afford the out-of-pocket costs.

Citation

Shumka, L. and Benoit, C. (2007), "Social suffering and gaps in alternative health care for vulnerable women workers", Jacobs Kronenfeld, J. (Ed.) Inequalities and Disparities in Health Care and Health: Concerns of Patients, Providers and Insurers (Research in the Sociology of Health Care, Vol. 25), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 253-275. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0275-4959(07)00011-7