Dissertation Research: Social Networks, Health Beliefs, and Women's Treatment Seeking for Tuberculosis in Uganda

本项目涉及凯斯西储大学一名人类学学生的论文研究。该项目研究了乌干达巴干达妇女寻求结核病治疗的过程。它探讨了在城市和农村环境中，患者的社会网络在寻求治疗时所扮演的角色的变化。该项目将采访100名被诊断患有结核病的妇女，她们分别来自两个地点，一个城市结核病诊所和一个农村卫生诊所。研究对象将在六个月内使用开放式和半结构化的调查工具进行三次访谈，以确定症状标记、行为改变、与朋友和亲戚的咨询以及他们如何向专业护理人员寻求治疗，以及他们对传统护理人员的建议与生物医学提供者的建议相矛盾的情况的反应。该研究将有助于我们了解社会网络结构与慢性疾病医疗寻求功能之间的相互作用。我们对人们如何以及为什么寻求和坚持医疗建议的一般原则的理解的进步，对于制定改善健康的计划将是重要的。该项目还增加了我们对世界这一重要地区的专业知识。

This project involves the dissertation research of an anthropology student from Case Western Reserve University. The project studies the treatment seeking process for tuberculosis (TB) among relatively understudied Baganda women in Uganda. It explores the variation in the role of a patient's social network, across urban and rural settings, in seeking treatment. The project will interview one hundred women who have been diagnosed with TB from two sites, an urban TB clinic and a rural health clinic. Subjects will be interviewed three times over six months using open-ended and semi-structured survey instruments to determine symptom labeling, behavioral alterations, consultation with friends and relatives and how they sought treatment from professional care givers, and their reaction to situations where the advice of traditional care-givers contradicts that of bio-medical providers. The study will contribute to our knowledge of the interaction between social network structure and functioning in medical treatment-seeking for this chronic illness. The advance in our understanding of general principles of how and why people seek and adhere to medical advice will be important in developing programs of health improvement. The project also increases our expertise about this important region of the world.