Doctoral Dissertation Social Categories and Health Care Outcomes

研究生艾莉森·安东尼将在德克萨斯大学玛丽·安格林博士的指导下，研究社会类别是否会影响医疗保健结果。早些时候的研究发现，社会不平等影响了黑人妇女被诊断为艾滋病和接受医疗护理的机会。然而，这类研究通常侧重于不经常参加医疗保健和支助服务的妇女所面临的保健障碍。相比之下，Anthony将专注于少数族裔女性，她们正在接受定期护理，但与其他女性相比，她们感染艾滋病毒相关死亡的风险更高。安东尼将研究历史驱动的不平等状况、女性所受到的护理以及女性对自己和她们的病程的理解之间的关系。研究人员将在美国南部的一个城市中心进行这项研究。她将对黑人妇女和正在接受健康相关支持服务的其他种族和民族背景的妇女进行半结构化采访。她还将采访联邦政府资助的护理服务联盟的员工。将通过参与观察妇女的日常生活和社交网络来收集更多数据，以阐明妇女在日常生活和个人环境中与健康和生存作斗争的情况。最后，研究人员将在服务联盟进行参与者观察，以检查针对研究参与者的项目的实际关注和后勤保障。通过研究接受护理的妇女及其照顾者的日常生活，这项研究将有助于更广泛的社会科学文献，探讨北美当代形式的种族、性别和基于阶级的差异和不平等之间的关系。这项研究也将有助于研究生的教育。

Graduate student Alyson Anthony, guided by Dr. Mary Anglin of the University of Texas, will investigate whether social categories mediate health care outcomes. Earlier research has found that social inequalities affect Black women's chances for diagnosis with AIDS and for receiving medical care. However, such studies typically focus on health care access barriers faced by women who do not regularly participate in medical care and support services. In contrast, Anthony will focus on minority women who are receiving regular care but who nevertheless are at increased risk for HIV-related mortality compared to other women. Anthony will examine the relationship between historically-driven conditions of inequality, the care women receive, and women's own understandings of themselves and their disease course. The researcher will carry out the research in an urban center in the American south. She will conduct semi-structured interviews with Black women and women of other racial and ethnic backgrounds who are receiving health-related support services. She also will interview employees of a federally-funded care service coalition. Additional data will be gathered by participant-observation in women's daily lives and social networks to illuminate the daily life and personal contexts in which women grapple with health and survival. Finally, the researcher will carry out participant-observation at the service coalition in order to examine practical concerns and the logistics of programs targeted to research participants. By examining the daily lives of both women receiving care and of their caregivers, this research will contribute to the broader social science literature on the relationship between contemporary forms of racial, gendered, and class-based differentiations and inequalities in North America. The research also will contribute to the education of a graduate student.