Medical Anthropology Interview

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INTRODUCTION Medical Anthropology is the studies of "human health and disease, health care systems, and bicultural adaptation"( McElroy A 1996). Medical anthropology can help doctors to improve patient and doctor relationship. It helps them to see a patient and their disease not just with a body parts and organs, but also as a social and psychological. According to the Emson, “Illness is a term is occasionally used to refer specifically to the patient's personal experience of his or her disease” (Emson HE 1987). Everyone sees the illness differently because of their personal beliefs and the knowledge they have about the illness. For my paper, I have interviewed my friend's mother who has an umbilical hernia. She shared her view on her illness …show more content…

I interviewed my friend's mother who have umbilical hernia and will go through the surgery in order to remove them. She is my friend's mother and I do know her, but not much about her illness. She is 55 year old, Indian female. She works the night shift in medical company and takes care of all housework. The interview took place in her house. I wanted to do outside, but she was comfortable in her house. No other family member was present there. It was done in the private room and she refuses to record her voice. Next, I compared and analyzed different literature review articles from the four databases; the Academic Search Premier, PubMed, and CINAHL database and some organizations articles that relate to our research topic. I analyzed all these articles, and narrowed our broad …show more content…

What is the main problem your sickness caused for you? She replied, “The main problem I have is this bulge under my umbilical. I felt burning or pain when cough, bend or sit”. 6. What do you fear most about your sickness? She was quiet, didn’t say anything. I asked her again and she said “going through surgery” “medications”. ANALYSIS According to Mol, “We know that the body is an object of medical knowledge”. Referring back to our class reading assignment and relating to my interviewer illness, doctors cannot change her habits for her illness till they don’t understand her way of understanding her own illness. What she thinks about her umbilical hernia repair surgery. The beginning and the recovery process of the surgery. The explanatory model, “The notions about an episode of sickness and its treatment that are employed by all those engaged in the clinical process” (Kleinman 1980). It reveals how people see and felt their illness. How patient understand chronic and acute illness and understanding about them if they stays same or change. For example, my interviewer sees her illness may come back and because of that she was hesitating to get surgery done.

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