Cent Eur J Public Health 2007, 15(2):74-78 | DOI: 10.21101/cejph.a3403

The Development of Medical Sociology in the Post-soviet Society: The Case of Lithuania

Raimundas Kaminskas, Eimantas Peičius
Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences, Kaunas University of Medicine, Kaunas, Lithuania

This article explores the historical development of medical sociology and analyses the social problems that have had impacted the changes of health care institutionalization particularly in Lithuania during the Soviet and post-soviet period. Approaching the interaction between sociology and public health sciences, it is intended to apply the concept of medical sociology and its determinants in the context of health care and education systems. By analyzing the case past of medical sociology in Lithuania, we claim that its prospects should be associated with the study of new challenges in the biomedical sciences. In order to improve the importance of medical sociology in developing democracies we should focus on the questions, for instance, to what extent modern biotechnologies should be applied, how to improve the situation with patients' rights, and how to combine the knowledge of social sciences and biomedicine in order to improve the quality of healthcare services and to ensure better functioning of the healthcare system in particular district.

Keywords: medical sociology, sociology in medicine, health sociology, public health, Lithuania

Received: July 18, 2006; Revised: December 12, 2006; Accepted: December 12, 2006; Published: June 1, 2007  Show citation

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Kaminskas R, Peičius E. The Development of Medical Sociology in the Post-soviet Society: The Case of Lithuania. Cent Eur J Public Health. 2007;15(2):74-78. doi: 10.21101/cejph.a3403. PubMed PMID: 17645222.
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