Dissertation Research: Meanings of Aging and Chronic Illness

慢性疾病的发病率和保健需求随着年龄的增长而增加。老年人可能认为身体上的变化，如震颤或行动迟缓，是正常的生物衰老。然而，这些身体表现也是进行性神经疾病帕金森病（PD）的症状。PD会导致残疾，产生令人尴尬的症状，需要昂贵的处方和医学专家的护理。本研究探讨了将衰老视为不可避免的身体衰退时期的文化模式如何影响老年人的身体变化体验，这些变化可能是由于正常衰老或进行性疾病造成的。该研究调查了患有帕金森病的老年人决定寻求药物治疗的原因。对PD患者的自传采访，在支持小组会议上的观察，对家庭护理人员和医生的采访，以及对非PD老年人的焦点小组的采访，将提供有关个人对衰老迹象的看法以及这些看法与他们对医疗保健的主观需求之间关系的信息。一份测量健康状况的问卷将用于探索参与者的信念与他们的疾病负担之间的联系。美国人口的老龄化强调了设计服务的重要性，这些服务考虑了健康、疾病和老龄化的文化模式。更广泛的影响：本研究探讨了信仰、生物学和医疗保健之间的关系，并在更大的医疗保健检查中纳入了老年人的观点。本研究可为改善诊断、医疗政策及医患沟通提供建议。该项目突出了受歧视人群的需要，并有助于培养一名年轻的社会科学家。

The incidence of chronic illness and the need for healthcare increase with age. Older adults may regard physical changes such as tremor or slowness as normal biological aging. However, these physical manifestations are also symptoms of the progressive neurological condition, Parkinson's Disease (PD). PD causes disability, produces embarrassing symptoms, and requires access to costly prescriptions and the care of medical specialists. This research investigates how a cultural model of aging as a period of inevitable physical decline affects elderly persons' experience of physical changes that may be due to normal aging or to progressive disease. The study examines why older persons with PD made the decision to seek medical treatment. Autobiographical interviews with PD sufferers, observations at support group meetings, interviews with family caregivers and physicians, and focus groups with older adults who do not have PD, will provide information regarding individuals' perceptions of the signs of aging and the relationship between those perceptions and their subjective need for healthcare. A questionnaire that measures health status will be used to explore the connections between participants' beliefs and their disease burden. The aging of the US population underscores the importance of designing services that account for cultural models of health, disease, and aging. Broader Impacts: This study explores the relationships among beliefs, biology, and healthcare, and incorporates older adults' perspectives within a larger examination of healthcare. The study may provide recommendations for improving diagnosis, healthcare policy, and doctor-patient communication. The project highlights the needs of a stigmatized population and contributes to the education of a young social scientist.