Maintaining health and preventing illness: A comparison of the perceptions of women from different social classes

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Abstract
It has been suggested that one of the reasons why there are marked social differences in health-related behaviour is because health education has had more of an impact on middle-class groups than on working-class groups. A number of explanations has been put forward to account for the uneven impact of health education and one of these suggests that the health beliefs of the middle-class groups are more congruent with those inherent in health education campaigns than those of working-class groups. This study using a qualitative methodology explored this proposition by comparing lay beliefs about health maintenance and illness prevention in samples of women from social classes I and II with those from social classes IV and V. The results showed some differences between the social classes in the way women think about maintaining health, particularly in relation to diet and exercise. More marked social class differences were found in relation to illness prevention. The implications of these findings for health education are discussed.