Problems surrounding health issues should be understood through micro, mezzo, and macro level. By overviewing the various levels, it will be possible to access the real problems and to find solutions beyond the common knowledge. In order to enable to approach the reality, it is necessary to adopt the method across the border of the theoretical sociology (Sociology in Medicine) and the applied sociology (Sociology of Medicine). It is also required to pursue empirical researches from social aspects such as organizational support, education, institution, resource allocation. At that time, the framework of health governance gives us certain hints.

Sociology with health is the study of social problems conducted in collaboration with colleagues in the healthcare sector, in an attempt to understand and address healthcare interactions, issues and challenges. Most importantly, healthcare access and equity to health services is fundamental for the population which is impacted by rural locations with a lack of access to relevant health professionals or the financial cost to seek healthcare services. The World Health Organisation provides a framework to assist countries in achieving adequate healthcare access for their population through Universal Health Coverage. The paper examines this framework and the healthcare systems in Australia and Japan and identifies problems to be addressed, priorities and policy recommendations. This sociological research work transcends the old dichotomy between sociology in medicine and sociology of medicine. It neither accepts uncritically the values and assumptions of the healthcare professions, as in sociology in medicine, nor are we disinterested observers on the outside in a position of neutrality, or even hostility, towards the healthcare professions, in the tradition of the sociology of health. The health workforce governance approach is conducted in line with a critical theoretical perspective in sociology characterised by political analysis and engagement, that is sociology with health.

This study examined why medical staff report critical incidents. Eighteen medical staff members from an acute-care teaching hospital in Japan completed semi-structured interviews regarding their reasons for reporting critical incidents. Their responses were qualitatively analyzed. Perceived effectiveness, individual role identity, subjective norm, perceived organizational support, and transparency of reporting system likely affected their decision. The data of our study adds the perspective that individual variation in discrimination between daily troubles and incidents might affect the reporting behavior.

Hattatsu shōgai (translated literally as developmental disability, but not synonymous to the term; encompasses learning disability, ADHD and autism spectrum disorder) is a new category of disability that emerged into the public discourse in Japan in the 2000s. This paper is based on interviews with 9 clinicians working with patients with hattatsu shōgai, focusing on the uncertainties they face in their clinical practices. Their narratives revealed three major sources of uncertainty: (1) those caused by the spatial limitation of the clinical setting, (2) those caused by limited knowledge of the past or outlook for the future of the patient, and (3) those caused by the lack of adequate skills or experience on the part of the clinician.

This paper discusses the “communality” of peer relationships over breast cancer recurrence. Supportive aspects of peer relationships tend to be emphasized, while their difficult aspects are overlooked. I interviewed two people who experienced recurrence and asked them how they build relationships with those who have no recurrence. The results revealed the following: 1) Sharing a “community narrative,” Recurred but Fine, among those who experienced recurrence with those who did not experience recurrence. 2) By having a context or role different from the illness, they acquired “ambiguity,” which enabled “differentiated communality.”

Currently, working is an urgent issue for “cancer patients” to survive in the background when that cancer has become chronic. It is an important problem not only as an economic issue but for a reconstruction of that self-identity. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the process of reconstructing a new self-identity “after cancer” by reorganizing the life plan and working as cancer patients. For this purpose, I conducted interviews with cancer patients who worked at the point when they were developing cancer. In this paper, I analyzed the life history of one of the cancer patients from the viewpoint of reflexive self-theory. I found that the consistency of her self-identity was guaranteed through reconstructing her life plan recursively although her experiences seemed to have been disconnected “before/after cancer.” The key to her success was a signpost of life for her to plan to continue working even after she was suffering from cancer as well as the trust built up with the people at work.

In the education of health professionals, understanding the patients’ feelings and experiences is related to the professionals’ essential “empathic care,” and it is considered to be fundamental in medical professionalism. However, patients’ perspectives vary as it is based on the individual’s experience. Also, the views of patients are significantly different even within the same disease group. Therefore, no generalized “patient perspective” exists. In addition, how to integrate patient viewpoints and values with the process of shared decision making is also a major clinical problem. In this article, we suggest the current issues from the interdisciplinary viewpoints of the co-authors around “patient perspectives,” the term which tends to be uniformly but superficially understood. Thus, we discuss critical issues that should be paid attention to in the medical education when we train health professionals who can consider patient viewpoints.