76 research outputs found
The Concordant Space of Biomedical Science: How Individuals with Parkinsonâs Disease Synchronize themselves with Clinical Trials
Parkinsonâs disease (PD) becomes more frequent as populations grow older in western countries. Levodopa exists as
medication, but is connected with side-effects. In search for an alternative therapy, patients become agents in different
ways. The role as participant in clinical trials, not least, is one of these possibilities for lay influence in scientific matters.
In this presentation we ask how one, as patient, relates to clinical science. How does one move along towards what,
on the basis of oneâs degenerative illness, one perceives as the progress of science? Individuals with PD are, in this sense,
temporal beings in whatever they do or calculate in relation to science. This article, based on an ethnographic fieldwork
within the frames of a biomedical research project on cell transplantations, explores two different concepts â concordance
and synchronizing â in terms of their analytical potential for understanding how research patients participate in
clinical trials
Patientens kropp: KÀnslor, makt och reciprocitet i transplantationsvÀrlden
The Body of the Patient
Emotions, power and reciprocity in the world of transplantation
Markus Idvall
Transplantation has been a part of human culture and imagination over centuries. In modern times, from the mid-20th century on, transplantation of solid organs and cells has become part of clinical practice. In this article, I focus on field studies with 1) individuals who have donated a kidney to a relative (living donors) and 2) individuals who have received a kidney from a deceased donor. Transplantation is problematized as a form of inter-corporality and a performative meeting between a recipient, a donor and medical intermediaries in the shape of doctors and nurses. By focusing on the body of the patient we learn about the aspects of emotions, power, and reciprocity in which the transplantation takes place.
The empirical discussion starts with a phenomenological approach towards what it means to have a transplant. In the narrative of one of the interview subjects a specific landscape â a forest â appears as a symbol for the individual bodyâs transformation or even ârebirthâ. The embodiment of the forest signifies both hope and an uncertain future for the individual. In a similar way, individuals who donate one of their kidneys to a relative, also incorporate the patientâs room in the hospital as being a space representing the pain which an individual living donor experiences when temporarily becoming a patient.
In the second part of the article, a bio-political, power-related perspective is included in the analysis. The medical gaze that identifies donors and recipients is discussed in relation to how the human body and body-parts become a form of a national resource in the transplant context. Donor pools and waiting lists for transplants are in this respect tools for realizing a transplant industry on a national and global basis. At the end of the article, reciprocity is introduced as an analytical perspective. By distinguishing the transplant as a gift, emotions, power relations and the multifaceted body of the patient can be seen as inter-connected
Ăresundsregionen som prioritering pĂ„ Lunds universitet? : KartlĂ€ggning av hur universitetets institutioner samarbetar och samverkar med aktörer i Danmark
Forum för humanistisk-samhÀllsvetenskaplig hÀlsoforskning: Forskarkonferens kring temat Program och praktik
Med temat program och praktik vill vi sÀrskilt uppmana forskare att reflektera över vad som sÀgs och vad som görs inom hÀlso-, medicin- och sjukdomsrelaterade verksamheter, sÄvÀl i nutid som i det förflutna. Med program avses till exempel vÄrdpolitiska uttalanden och viljeyttringar av olika slag, beskrivningar eller bilder av hur t.ex. vÄrd och omhÀndertagande bör vara beskaffad, lÀroböckers beskrivningar av önskvÀrda metoder, vÄrdformer, omhÀndertaganden, ingrepp etc., eller andra sorters vÀgledande utsagor, bl.a. i massmedia, som anger hur nÄgot bör vara beskaffat, ska utföras eller pÄ annat sÀtt riktas mot en önskvÀrd omsÀttning i handling. Med praktik menas t.ex. handlingar, handgrepp och genomförande, tysta eller fotade i nÄgot slags program. HÀr ingÄr ocksÄ upplevda och beskrivna relationer mellan t.ex. vÄrdtagare, klient eller kund och olika vÄrdgivare eller producenter av vÄrd, behandling och omhÀndertagande eller andra aktiviteter, rum eller materiella alt. immateriella produkter inom medicin- och hÀlsofÀltet. Konferensen vill gÀrna att deltagarna reflekterar över dessa tvÄ begrepp, vart och ett eller i relation till varandra i empiriskt, metodologiskt, kÀllkritiskt eller annat avseende. Konferensen vÀlkomnar ocksÄ bidrag om de epistemologiska, etiska och representationsteoretiska perspektiv och paradigm som ligger bakom, uttrycks genom eller utesluts frÄn sÄdana program och praktiker som angivits ovan
Synchronizing the Self with Science : How Individuals with Parkinson's Disease Move along with Clinical Trials
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