The Role of Diagnosis in Health & Wellbeing: A social science perspective on the social, economic and political costs and consequences of diagnosis

Diagnosis is central to the practice of medicine. It is common to the experience of anyone who has ever visited their GP, seen a medical specialist in a clinic, or been admitted to hospital. Diagnosis is a social, as much as it is a medical affair. By this we mean that the practices and techniques, costs and consequences of diagnosis affect the lives and experiences of practitioners, patients and carers, and also have implications for health care institutions, policy makers, managers and others. Despite this, diagnosis as a focus of social sciences has remained something that, with a few pioneering exceptions, has rarely been directly addressed as an important topic in its own right.
The goal of this seminar series is to strengthen and support the further development of the emerging sociology of diagnosis. The seminars will provide a platform to bring together academics with appropriate expertise from a range of fields (including but not limited to medical sociology, science and technology studies, medical anthropology, organisational sociology, health policy, economics, bio-ethics and political debates on new social movements) to discuss the key issues that a critical sociology of diagnosis must address. Ultimately this sub-discipline should productively highlight the socio-economic costs and consequences of diagnostic practices and enable the improvement of health outcomes.
In order for this new field to thrive and for health outcomes related to these social processes to improve, knowledge about the sociology of diagnosis must be disseminated beyond the social sciences and the academy. The proposed seminars will bring together academic experts and representatives from health care professions, patient organizations, and policy areas for discussions informed both by sociological knowledge and the experiences and expertise of medical professionals and service users.
In order to structure these discussions and ensure the most pertinent topics are addressed, there will be five seminars in the series and each seminar will be structured around a key issue. These are:
What is diagnosis? This seminar will highlight the social, economic, psychological, ethical and political factors which shape diagnostic categories, introduce new diagnoses, and change the nature of the diagnostic process.
Diagnostic technologies. We will focus on how technologies create, reframe and highlight particular diagnoses and what drives the development of new technologies. We will explore how both lay and professional use of technology changes the understanding, and assessment of diagnosis and disease.
Diagnosis and collective health movements. This seminar will discuss how diagnoses are contested, challenged and politicised. It will explore the different ways in which diagnoses can affect different social and cultural groups in order to understand the implications for class, age, gender, ethnicity and sexuality. We will explore what a sociology of diagnosis can learn from patients and patient groups.
Practitioner and patient experiences of diagnosis. The diagnostic process is experienced by lay and professional. We will explore how diagnostic practices create or challenge territorial boundaries within and between lay and professional as well as between professions. We will consider how diagnosis is undertaken within complementary and alternative health settings.
Policy and practice. What are the primary policy domains relevant to the sociology of diagnosis? In what ways do they constrain or facilitate the emergence of different forms of diagnosis?

This seminar series on the role of diagnosis in health and wellbeing will have an impact both within and beyond academia. Beneficiaries are diverse, and are involved in all stages of the production, synthesis and translation of new knowledge and understanding in the sociology of diagnosis. The ultimate impact of the series will be potential improvement of health outcomes for individuals and whole populations.
This research seminar series has the potential to benefit a wide range of academic disciplines and sub-disciplines, policy makers, healthcare professionals, users and patients. From an academic perspective, we have positive confirmation of contributors to the seminars from across many different academic disciplines including sociology and anthropology (Annemarie Jutel, Robert Aronowitz, , Ilana Lowry, Andrew Webster, Nikolas Rose), economics (Professors Miranda Mugford and Richard Smith), politics (Professor Brian Salter), psychology & psychiatry (Simon Wessely & Theresa Marteau), medical education & clinical science (Professor Amanda Howe, Professor Richard Lilford and Professor Martin Roland) and ethics & philosophy (Dr Havi Hannah Carel, Dr Anna Smajdor). Also attending will be Stuart Blume, author of the influential Black Report. Geographical representation is far-reaching, with participants are from academic institutions in the UK Europe, USA and New Zealand.
From the standpoint of practitioners we will have contributors from professional schools such as nursing and medicine (Professor Chris Hyde, Professor Nicky Britten, Professor Andrew Hattersley and Dr Nick Steel) and pharmacy (Paul Rutter) and have invited policy makers from NICE (Professor Mike Kelly) and the King's Fund (John Appleby). Furthermore, we have confirmation from a number of 3rd sector groups for their participation and support of this seminar series including Lupus UK, Patient's Association, Healthwatch UK, Norfolk LINk Health Watch.
These groups will benefit from this seminar series on the role of diagnosis in health and well-being in myriad ways. Already, the convening of this diverse group will enable a focused discussion about means for improving health outcomes. All of the participants will have a vested interest in working towards improved patient and provider experience of diagnosis. The seminars will contribute to immediate and long-term scoping and mapping of the field of diagnosis and further identification of its potential for fostering health gains. In addition to the seminars, the interactive web log, live podcasts, seminar reports, press releases and fundable research proposals will contribute to optimising the series impact. Research can become, via this collaborative, interdisciplinary group, more responsive. Ultimately, with diagnosis as a focal point, this series and its related initiatives will contribute to improvements in the health and wellbeing of individuals, communities and populations on a wide scale.
To ensure that this seminar series makes a robust impact across this wide range of interest groups and stakeholders, we will be disseminating and translating the findings of the seminars in the following ways:
Sponsoring users and early career researchers to attend the seminars via travel bursaries and in situ training and support;
Producing press releases and podcasts/videos of each seminar which will be immediately available on the 'Sociology of Diagnosis' website hosted by the University of East Anglia;
Submitting papers to relevant conferences and journals including academic, professional and health service management
Developing curriculum components to inform sociological and clinical education both at undergraduate and postgraduate level and training modules on the sociology of diagnosis for healthcare professionals.
Launching the new journal Diagnosis: Social Impact and Issues [working title].