Despite the many factors that affect our health, the notion of personal responsibility dominates many of our conversations—in the doctor’s office, among friends and online. We are told by many authoritative and influential sources that health is largely a product of one’s individual effort, and therefore, we need to set measurable goals and work actively to achieve them. This approach is sometimes empowering because we can control our health.
However, it often overlooks or minimizes the role of external factors, such as social determinants of health, thus placing the burden of responsibility on individuals to simply try harder.
The Siegal Lifelong Learning Program will offer an upcoming remote course titled “Health as a Personal Responsibility” in February to break down this topic.
Mary K. Assad, managing editor of the health library at Cleveland Clinic, will lead the course, which will be held Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. from Feb. 2–23.
In this course, participants will consider the benefits of personal responsibility as a framework for understanding our health while reading scholarship in medical rhetoric and sociology that critiques it. Several short readings will be provided.