Doctoral Dissertation Research: How Oncologists and Patients Understand the Cancer Experience

博士论文研究：肿瘤学家和患者如何理解癌症经历

• 批准号: 1519198
• 负责人: Mary Blair-Loy
• 金额: $ 0.56万
• 依托单位: University of California-San Diego
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-04-15 至 2017-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1519198&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; How; Oncologists

According to the American Cancer Society, nearly half of all U.S. citizens will be diagnosed with some form of cancer in their lifetime. In 2012, approximately 40% of all new diagnoses for women were for breast or gynecological cancers, and 30% of all new diagnoses for men were for prostate or testicular cancer. Those diagnosed often need extensive treatment, which can result in the loss of function or removal entirely of gendered/sexed body parts (for example, impotency or infertility or the surgical removal of breasts or testicles). This disruption of the gendered body that cancer patients face provides a unique space to examine the salience of gender in everyday life. I argue that when people's bodies are altered, they must find new ways to experience and understand them. This dissertation examines how cancer and treatment of the disease can challenge or reinforce cultural scripts that define the gendered body. While cancer and its various forms of treatment can be understood as disruptive, their effects on the gendered body have been neglected in academic study. In order to access medical discourse surrounding gender and the body, I interview male and female oncologists, knowing that their position gives them the distinctive authority to prescribe solutions to the gendered concerns of their patients. In addition, I interview men and women who have been diagnosed with prostate, testicular, breast and gynecological cancer to find out how they view the changes to their gendered body and subsequent changes to self and identity from undergoing treatment. Policy recommendations are generally made based on studies focused solely on the experiences of women with breast cancer. Knowing this, it is essential to study the experience of male and female patients with various forms of cancer, in order to improve patient care overall. This dissertation also promises to make significant empirical insights to improve cancer care and will provide noteworthy contributions to the sociology of gender, gender studies, sociology of the body, and cultural and medical sociology.

根据美国癌症协会的数据，近一半的美国公民在其一生中将被诊断出患有某种形式的癌症。2012年，女性所有新诊断中约有40%是乳腺癌或妇科癌症，男性所有新诊断中有30%是前列腺癌或睾丸癌。那些被诊断出的人往往需要广泛的治疗，这可能导致功能丧失或完全切除性别/性别的身体部位（例如，阳痿或不育或手术切除乳房或睾丸）。癌症患者面对的性别身体的这种破坏提供了一个独特的空间来检查性别在日常生活中的显着性。我认为，当人们的身体被改变时，他们必须找到新的方式来体验和理解它们。本论文探讨了癌症和疾病的治疗如何挑战或加强定义性别身体的文化脚本。虽然癌症及其各种形式的治疗可以被理解为破坏性的，但它们对性别身体的影响在学术研究中被忽视了。为了获得围绕性别和身体的医学话语，我采访了男性和女性肿瘤学家，知道他们的职位使他们具有独特的权威，可以为患者的性别问题开出解决方案。此外，我还采访了被诊断患有前列腺癌、睾丸癌、乳腺癌和妇科癌症的男性和女性，以了解他们如何看待自己性别化身体的变化，以及接受治疗后自我和身份的变化。政策建议通常是根据专门针对乳腺癌妇女经历的研究提出的。 了解这一点，有必要研究患有各种癌症的男性和女性患者的经验，以改善患者的整体护理。本论文还承诺作出重大的实证见解，以改善癌症护理，并将提供值得注意的贡献，性别社会学，性别研究，身体社会学，文化和医学社会学。