Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Surgery and Society in Caracas, Venezuela

在卡罗琳·萨金特博士的指导下，研究生劳伦·古尔巴斯将在委内瑞拉加拉加斯调查整容手术日益增多的社会影响。在许多发展中国家，整容手术正在增加。委内瑞拉社会表现出特别明显的矛盾，一方面是审美和阶级优先考虑较浅的皮肤和欧洲人的身体特征，另一方面是政府的官方政策，这些政策促进种族民主，禁止在人口普查中收集种族数据，并禁止基于种族的歧视。由于所有委内瑞拉人都可以通过免费的国家医疗保健获得整容手术，一项仔细的科学研究可以揭示普通人是如何生活在种族偏好中的，以及这些偏好是如何与性别和阶级的文化观念相交织的。这项研究将征求社区成员和个人的参与，他们与随机选择的四家外科诊所和一家教学医院有关。为了获得有关当地种族和阶级概念的初步信息，将对10名女性和10名男性进行分层样本的领域分析。随后将对135名诊所样本(90名女性，45名男性，反映手术患者的性别比例)和135名社区成员的对照组进行调查。将更深入地采访关键告密者的子样本，以获得免费清单(以探索与种族和阶级有关的定义)以及关于种族和阶级类别的定义。此外，她将收集30名患者手术前和手术后的叙述，使用照片启发技术和标准的身体形象评估。最后，她将对患者、家属和医务人员之间的互动进行广泛观察，并跟踪媒体的相关讨论。数据将用适当的方法进行系统的定性研究(自由名单和排名数据)和计算机编码文本分析技术，用于文件、现场笔记、患者叙述、身体图像访谈和生活史。这项研究对于理解优先考虑整容手术的后果比其他紧迫的健康问题有重要贡献。从理论上讲，这项研究将有助于科学理解种族、性别和阶级的文化观念如何与流行的健康和外表观念相互作用。这项研究也将有助于研究生的教育。

Under the supervision of Dr. Carolyn Sargent, graduate student Lauren Gulbas will investigate the social effects of the increasing practice of cosmetic surgery in Caracas, Venezuela. Cosmetic surgery is increasing in many developing nations. Venezuelan society exhibits a particularly clear tension between the aesthetic and class priority given to lighter skin and European physical features, and official government policies that promote racial democracy, forbid the collection of racial data in the census, and prohibit discrimination on the basis of race. Because cosmetic surgery is available to all Venezuelans through free national health care, a careful scientific study can reveal how ordinary people live racial preferences, and how these preferences intersect with cultural notions of gender and class.Participation in the research will be solicited from community members and individuals associated with four randomly chosen surgery clinics and a teaching hospital. To elicit initial information about local conceptions of race and class, a domain analysis will be done with a stratified sample of 10 women and 10 men. This will be followed with surveys of a clinic sample of 135 (90 women, 45 men, reflecting gender ratios of those undergoing surgery) and a control group of 135 members of the community. Sub-samples of key informants will be interviewed in greater depth for free lists (to explore definitions associated with race and class) and about racial and class categories. In addition, she will collect 30 patient before-and-after-surgery narratives, using photo elicitation techniques and standard body image evaluations. Finally, she will do extensive observations of interactions between patients, family members, and medical personnel, as well as track relevant discussions in the media. Data will be analyzed with appropriate methods for systematic qualitative research (for the free-lists and rank order data) and computer coded text analysis techniques for the documents, field notes, patient narratives, body image interviews and life histories.The research is important as a contribution to understanding the consequences of privileging cosmetic surgery over other pressing health concerns. Theoretically, the research will contribute to scientific understanding of how cultural notions of race, gender, and class interact with popular notions of good health and appearance. The research also will contribute to the education of a graduate student.