Doctoral Disssertation Research: Motivations for Medical Migration in the United States/Mexico Borderlands

博士生Matthew Dalstrom(威斯康星大学密尔沃基分校)在Paul Brodwin博士的建议下，将对医疗移民的文化和社会动机进行研究，简要定义为为了医疗保健而跨境流动的人。该项目将在美国-墨西哥边境的两个城市进行。之前的研究表明，美国人积极在墨西哥寻求医疗保健机会，但人们对促使或鼓励人们这样做的制度结构和文化信仰知之甚少。这项研究考察了三个问题：1)美国人越境寻求医疗保健主要是因为缺乏保险和高昂的医疗费用，还是社会和文化因素也很重要？2)什么因素决定了美国医疗移民在墨西哥选择医疗服务提供者的方式？3)美国医疗服务提供者如何在他们对医疗移民的评估中平衡民族主义和患者安全？研究将通过调查、参与者观察和对主要参与者：患者、医生、牙医、药剂师和医疗移民经纪人的半结构化访谈来进行。这个项目很重要，因为它考察了文化以及贫困、医疗保健不平等和国家政策如何影响个人的医疗保健选择和决策。此外，它还将有助于讨论边境卫生政策以及个人理解和利用边境地区卫生保健的不同方式。这项研究还将有助于社会科学家的教育。

Doctoral student, Matthew Dalstrom (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee), advised by Dr. Paul Brodwin, will conduct research on the cultural and social motivations for medical migration, briefly defined as the movement of people across borders for health care. The project will be conducted in two cities along the United States-Mexico border. Previous studies have illustrated that Americans actively pursue health care opportunities in Mexico, but there is little known about the institutional structures and cultural beliefs that enable or encourage people to do so. This study examines three questions: 1) Do Americans cross the border for health care predominately because of lack of insurance and high medical cost, or are social and cultural factors also important? 2) What factors determine the way American medical migrants choose providers in Mexico? 3) How do American medical providers balance nationalism and patient safety with their assessment of medical migration? Research will be conducted through the use of surveys, participant observation, and semi-structured interviews with the primary participants: patients, doctors, dentists, pharmacists, and medical migration brokers.This project is important because it examines how culture, as well as poverty, health care inequalities, and state policies influence individual health care options and decisions. Furthermore, it will contribute to the discussion of border health policy and the different ways that individuals understand and utilize health care along the border. The research also will contribute to the education of a social scientist.