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Illness Narratives (illness + narrative)
Selected AbstractsMigratory Journeys and Tuberculosis RiskMEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY QUARTERLY, Issue 4 2003Ming-Jung Ho After decades of decline, tuberculosis case rates in New York City more than tripled between 1978 and 1992. While the number of cases of those born in the United States declined after 1992, the proportion of immigrant tuberculosis cases continued to increase and reached 58 percent in 1999. This article questions the biomedical explanation of immigrant tuberculosis as being imported from immigrants' countries of origin. Illness narratives of illegal Chinese immigrants with tuberculosis detailing risks associated with migratory journeys are presented. The social and cultural nature of the concept of risk, as well as the adverse implication of biomedical identification of immigrants as being at higher risk of tuberculosis, are also discussed. The author concludes that the dominant biomedical explanation of immigrant tuberculosis could be modified with the incorporation of the migratory process as a risk factor, [tuberculosis, illegal migration, Chinese immigrants, New York City, Chinatown] [source] Finding Meaning in First Episode Psychosis: Experience, Agency, and the Cultural RepertoireMEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY QUARTERLY, Issue 4 2004JOHN AGGERGAARD LARSEN The article examines individuals' attempts to generate meaning following their experiences with psychosis. The inquiry is based on a person-centered ethnographic study of a Danish mental health community program for early intervention in schizophrenia and involves longitudinal interviews with 15 of its participants. The article takes an existential anthropological perspective emphasizing agency and cultural phenomenology to investigate how individuals draw on resources from the cultural repertoire to make sense of personally disturbing experiences during their psychosis. It is suggested that the concept of "system of explanation" has advantages over, for example, "illness narrative" and "explanatory model" when demonstrating how some individuals engage in the creative analytic and theory-building work of bricolage, selecting, adding, and combining various systems of explanation. Delusions are equally derived from the cultural repertoire but are constructed as dogmatic explanations that are idiosyncratic to the individual who holds them. [source] The political role of illness narrativesJOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING, Issue 6 2000Jurate A. Sakalys PhD RN The political role of illness narratives Cultural criticism is used to describe the political role of autobiographical illness narratives or pathographies. In expressing the subjective experience of illness, authors of pathographies illuminate ideological differences between patient and health care cultures, reveal the dominance of health care ideologies, and explicate patients' moral and political claims. The contributions of these literary works to nursing practice provide direction for relational restructuring. Gadow's concept of the relational narrative is proposed as a way to restore patient subjectivity and agency and establish the dialogue necessary for cultural pluralism in nursing and health care. [source] The cardiac patient: a gender comparison via illness narrativesJOURNAL OF NURSING AND HEALTHCARE OF CHRONIC ILLNE SS: AN INTERNATIONAL INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL, Issue 1 2009Michal Rassin PhD Aims., To compare responses to heart disease between women and men, aged 30,50 years, and to identify the factors influencing them in health and illness. Background., The quality of life and prognosis for women with heart disease are worse than for men. Methods., Participants were 30 men and 30 women who had coronary heart disease. The study was conducted using a qualitative method based on narrative investigation. Narratives were gathered using in-depth interviews and were analyzed by thematic analysis. Data were collected in 2006. Results., Women often delayed seeking treatment. When they did seek treatment they were often not initially diagnosed as having heart disease. The recovery period for women was characterised by their quick return to daily home making before their physical condition permitted it. Conversely, men extended their recovery period and received family support. Men were strict in following the instructions of the health regimen, whereas most women ignored it. The women, compared to the men, received less support from their spouses and families, and they noted that social expectations concerning their role were high. Conclusions., The role of the cardiac patient is socially formed based on male characteristics and, as a result, men are legitimised and receive social support in all that relates to the disease. Consequently, men adhere to the health regimen, whereas women are less inclined to. Relevance to clinical practice., Improved disease models for women with heart disease are needed, as are specifically design rehabilitation programmes to meet the needs of women with heart disease. [source] | ||||||||||