Doctoral Dissertation Research: How Problem Gambling is Medicalized

SES-1131382 Linda BurtonRose BuckelewDuke UniversityDoctoral Dissertation Research：How Problem Gambling is Medicalized摘要本研究将深入探讨问题赌博的医疗化机制。它将研究如何辅导员构建问题赌博行为的种族和性别差异。它还将研究辅导员在日常讨论中构建和理解种族和性别的方式， 客户和客户行为。使用康拉德（1992年）的医疗化的定义，社会问题被重新定义为医疗问题的过程，要求有执照的医疗专业人员的干预和控制，这个项目将展示社会和历史因素如何塑造疾病的建设。 它将把关于医疗化的理论工作与关于街道一级官僚的“政策制定”（Lipsky 1980）和临床决策过程（Hays et al. 2010，Gushue 2004）的研究联系起来。通过参与观察和访谈收集的数据将涉及三个主题：（1）咨询师在讨论客户时使用的种族和性别话语类型，（2）咨询师在这些话语中提供的合法化证据的种类，以及（3）咨询师对已构建的差异的意义。 数据收集策略包括与问题赌博项目的顾问和管理人员进行访谈，以及对赌博成瘾培训讲习班、会议和呼叫中心进行多站点人种学研究。很少有定性研究仔细研究心理咨询师和管理者在塑造精神疾病定义方面的作用，更少有人认真研究他们的主观性。 结合访谈和民族志的方法，本研究将推进医疗化的复杂过程的理解。

SES-1131382Linda BurtonRose BuckelewDuke UniversityDoctoral Dissertation Research: How Problem Gambling is Medicalized AbstractThis study will provide insight into the mechanisms that shape the medicalization of problem gambling. It will examine how counselors construct racial and gender differences in problem gambling behavior. It will also examine the ways counselors construct and understand race and gender in their everyday discussions of clients and client behavior. Using Conrad's (1992) definition of medicalization, the process by which social problems are redefined as medical problems mandating the intervention and control of licensed medical professionals, this project will demonstrate how social and historical factors shape the construction of illness. And it will bridge the theoretical work on medicalization with research on the "policy making" of street level bureaucrats (Lipsky 1980), and on clinical decision-making processes (Hays et al. 2010, Gushue 2004). Data collection through participant observation and interviews will address three themes: (1) the types of racial and gender discourses counselors use when discussing clients, (2) the kinds of legitimating evidence counsellors provide in these discourses, and (3) the meanings counselors attach to the differences which have been constructed. Data collection strategies include interviews with counselors and managers of problem gambling programs and a multi-site ethnographic study of gambling addiction training workshops, conferences, and call centers. Very few qualitative studies closely examine the role of counselors and managers in shaping definitions of mental illness and even fewer seriously examine their subjectivity. Combining interviews and ethnographic approaches, this study will advance understanding of the complex processes of medicalization.