Doctoral Dissertation: Respiratory Health and the Experience of Modernity in Two South Indian Communities

摘要0001494本项目将调查最近的社会经济和环境变化之间的关系，在印度南部和不断变化的呼吸系统健康/疾病模式，特别是哮喘的患病率急剧增加，在这一地区。这项研究将集中在印度人对这种疾病的解释模型及其推测的原因上。它将研究如何的经验，并解释，哮喘影响医疗保健的寻求和管理的医疗多元化的设置，以及如何这些不同的阶级，种姓和性别。它将具体分析当地模式/观念如何可能导致疾病管理不善。 将比较两个经历了不同社会经济和环境变化的南印度社区-一个工业城镇和一个农村。方法包括结构化的访谈样本的家庭，引发哮喘的因素，使用的药物的分析，以及当地药店和药品供应商的卫生服务研究。这项研究将有助于我们了解经济/环境变化与工业化发展中国家许多地区呼吸系统健康恶化之间的关系。

Abstract 0001494This project will investigate the relationship between recent socioeconomic and environmental changes in South India and changing respiratory health/disease patterns; specifically, the prevalence of asthma has increased dramatically in this region. The research will focus on Indians' explanatory models of this disease and its presumed causes. It will examine how the experience of, and explanations for, asthma influence health-care seeking and management in a setting of medical pluralism, and how these vary by class, caste, and gender. It will specifically analyze how local models/perceptions may be contributing to poor management of the disease. Two south Indian communities that have experienced different kinds of socioeconomic and environmental change-- an industrial town and a rural village -- will be compared. Methods include structured interviews with samples of households, the elicitation of factors causing asthma, an analysis of medications utilized, and a health services study of local pharmacies and drug vendors. This research will contribute to our understanding of the relationship between economic/environmental change and deteriorating respiratory health in many parts of the industrialized, developing world.