Conclusion

Focusing on the subject of women’s health is important, as this subject is frequently neglected when discussions occur on the topic of wellbeing more generally. This free course, Exploring issues in women’s health, has provided an introduction to social model approaches to health and wellbeing as this applies to women, using examples including period poverty and the biomedicalisation of menopause to illustrate key points. The social model approach takes as its starting point not the scientific context of a woman’s body, but the social milieu in which she lives.

If you have previously studied courses related to health and wellbeing, you will have already started to explore questions related to the various perspectives in the field; however, this is something you will think about in more depth if you study further at The Open University.

This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University course K219 Critical issues in health and wellbeing [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .