Dissertation Research: Use of Services and Political Identity on the West Bank

本项目涉及到埃默里大学一名学生的毕业论文研究。这名学生将学习生活在约旦河西岸的巴勒斯坦人如何使用哈马斯、巴解组织和人阵等政治组织为他们提供的医疗设施。该项目将检验这样一个假设，即人们的政治身份会影响他们选择使用的医疗设施。将采访4家诊所的患者、管理人员、医生和卫生保健提供者，观察临床实践和动态，并跟踪个别家庭的健康决定。这项研究之所以重要，是因为中东是世界重大政治紧张和变革的源头。该项目将增进我们对民族主义、政治意识形态和健康之间关系的理解。通过研究那些正在平衡健康需求、经济和社会限制以及政治意识形态和身份认同的人的复杂决策和行为，这项研究将增进我们对该地区政治重要性的理解。该项目的一个实际好处是，中东和发展中国家的类似地区的规划者将获得关于卫生保健的见解。

This project involves the dissertation research of a student from Emory University. The student will study how Palestinian people living in the West Bank use the health care facilities made available to them by political organizations such as Hamas, the PLO, and the PFLP. The project will test the hypothesis that people's political identities influence their selection of health facility to use. Patients, administrators, doctors and health care providers in 4 clinics will be interviewed, clinic practices and dynamics will be observed and health decisions of individual families will be followed. This research is important because the middle east is a source of significant political tension and change in the world. The project will advance our understanding of the relation between nationalism, political ideology and health. By studying the complex decisions and behavior of people who are balancing health needs, economic and social constraints and political ideology and identity, the study will advance our understanding of the importance of politics in this region. A practical benefit of the project is that the insights learned about health care will be available to planners in the middle east as well as in similar regions of developing countries.