DDIG: Culture and the Experience of Chronic Disease: The Case of Diabetes in Urban India

博士生Lesley Jo Weaver（埃默里大学）在Peter J. Brown博士和克雷格哈德利博士的指导下，将对特定文化和社会意识形态之间的相互作用进行研究，一方面，另一方面，慢性病的经历。研究问题将通过新德里，印度中产阶级妇女共同发生的2型糖尿病和抑郁症的透镜进行探讨。2型糖尿病是印度主要的健康问题之一，特别是在妇女中，抑郁症在糖尿病患者中非常常见。即便如此，人们对印度妇女应对2型糖尿病的日常经历知之甚少，在印度，慢性疾病可能会干扰繁重的家务和家庭责任以及家庭以外的职业。因此，这项研究将重点关注个人和家庭关系，包括女性患有2型糖尿病时可能出现的冲突。将特别关注这些紧张是否会产生抑郁和焦虑的迹象和症状，或者是否会加剧或导致糖尿病。韦弗将使用访谈，问卷调查，参与者观察和血液测试来探索女性及其家庭成员如何看待女性的家庭角色和责任，根据生物医学和当地标准，她们是否抑郁，女性如何有效地管理糖尿病和心理社会压力，以及这些管理努力是否会产生冲突或妨碍他们履行重要的家庭和个人角色的能力。 这项研究很重要，因为它将有助于人类经验的生物和文化方面之间的关系的社会科学理论。特别是，它将有助于理解特定形式的文化和社会组织如何影响日常生活中糖尿病和抑郁症等慢性疾病的经历。因此，这项研究也有可能改善疾病管理。由于2型糖尿病日益成为全球儿童和成人的健康问题，因此更好地了解糖尿病与精神健康和文化差异的交叉方式有望改善糖尿病管理和治疗工作。资助这项研究也支持研究生的教育。

Doctoral student Lesley Jo Weaver (Emory University), under the guidance of Dr. Peter J. Brown and Dr. Craig Hadley, will conduct research on the interaction between particular cultural and social ideologies, on the one hand, and the experience of chronic disease, on the other. The research questions will be explored through the lens of co-occurring type 2 diabetes and depression for middle-class women in New Delhi, India. Type 2 diabetes is one of India's leading health concerns, especially among women, and depression is very common among people with diabetes. Even so, relatively little is known about women's everyday experiences of dealing with type 2 diabetes in India, where chronic illness may interfere with intense household and family responsibilities as well as careers outside the home. This research will therefore focus on individual and family relationships, including conflicts that may arise when a woman has type 2 diabetes. Particular attention will be paid to whether or not these tensions produce signs and symptoms of depression and anxiety or perhaps whether pre-existing depression exacerbates or leads to diabetes. Weaver will use interviews, questionnaires, participant-observation, and blood tests to explore how women and their family members perceive women's family roles and responsibilities, whether or not they are depressed according to biomedical and local standards, how effectively women are able to manage diabetes and psychosocial stress, and whether or not these management efforts create conflict or impede their ability to fulfill important family and personal roles. This research is important because it will contribute to social scientific theory of the relation between biological and cultural aspects of human experience. In particular, it will contribute to understanding of how particular forms of culture and social organization affect the experience of chronic illnesses like diabetes and depression in everyday life. Therefore, the research also has the potential to improve disease management. Because type 2 diabetes is increasingly becoming a health concern for both children and adults worldwide, a better understanding of the ways in which diabetes intersects with mental health and cultural variability holds promise for improving diabetes management and treatment efforts. Funding this research also supports the education of a graduate student.