Workshops

Workshop 1: Health and Morality
Ideas about what it means to be healthy have always been rooted in culturally determined ideas about ‘the good life’, beauty and perfection. Often, we are not even aware of how much the ‘ scientific ’ and ‘evidence based’ evidence that underpins the health sciences is biased; and how much the (scientific) choices in academic work are connected to how we experience and think about life and society. This session explores the (unconscious) cultural stance and morality of health choices and –interventions. And, based on these considerations, questions how ‘ objective ’ and trustworthy health policies actually are.

Chair:
Rina Knoeff

Speakers:
Catrien Santing (Faculty of Arts) - Lifestyle and Good Life: Fast Friends or Competitors
Christoph Jedan (Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies) - Paradoxes of Health: Lessons from Theological Bio-ethics
Arie Dijkstra (GMW) - Socioeconomic status as culture

Workshop 2: Approaches to Health
When we speak about health, what do we mean? When we develop health programmes, what are we trying to improve? Are we applying a concept of health that is shared by policy makers and health professionals, or are we trying to understand people's perspectives on how they live their health experiences? In this workshop, we will bring together an ethnographer, an experience expert in poverty and social exclusion, and a Zen Buddhist. Each will provide a perspective of health that can contribute to a more inclusive concept of health, doing justice to the reality in which people live.

Chair:
Hinke Haisma

Speakers:
Jodi Sturge & Louise Meijering (Faculty of Spatial Sciences) - Exploring the social health of older people with memory issues
Henk Former (Experiential expert) - A health perspective from an experience expert in poverty and social exclusion
Senko de Boer (Zen River Temple & Zen Boot Groningen) - Being imperfectly happy!

Workshop 3: Poverty and Health
The WRR report describes a moving away from an egalitarian approach. In the neo-liberal perspective, health is considered a commodity, rather than a trait that is intrinsic to people's (well)being. Applying this perspective, how can the needs for the most vulnerable in society be addressed, and aspects of vulnerability and resilience included? In this workshop, different aspects of poverty will be discussed. Participants will discuss how knowledge on the dynamics of poverty is, or should be, included in policy.

Chair:
Jan Dirk Gardenier

Speakers:
Sander van lanen (Factulty of Spatial Sciences) - Interactions of poverty and health: lessons from austerity in Ireland
Sanne Visser (Factulty of Spatial Sciences) - Intergenerational Health and poverty in the Netherlands
Naomi Hartkamp (CAB Groningen) - The fairytale of self-management in healthcare

Workshop 4: International Perspectives on Health
The institutional context of health is very important. Health behavior and the demand for health is to a certain extent culturally dependent. Countries organize their health system in different ways, reflecting the socio-economic, cultural, and political environment of the countries. An international perspective sheds light on these differences, and how they affect both the demand for and supply of health care. How do policy makers in different countries react to the current health challenges. Examples could be the organization of care for the elderly, tobacco legislation, antibiotics, euthanasia, etc.

Chair:
Leo van Wissen

Speakers:
Jitse van Dijk (Faculty of Medical Sciences) - Health Care Systems in the World. Does one best system exist?
Regien Biesma-Blanco (Faculty of Medical Sciences) - Maternal and Child Health: a global perspective
Adriana Perez Fortis (Faculty of Medical Sciences) - Caring goes beyond curing: Supportive care needs of cancer patients in diverse regions of the world