Doctoral Dissertation Research: Reproductive Technologies and Social Change

当今世界的技术进步改变了人类互动、交流和获得商品和服务的方式。医疗技术尤其可以影响医生如何理解和治疗疾病，患者如何获得医疗保健，以及社会如何定义健康的身体。当技术进入一个新的背景时，它们的使用和意义取决于该地区现有的政治、经济和文化条件。与此同时，这项技术更广泛的全球医疗目标也可以影响和改变当地文化。这项研究考察了一种重要的新药物疗法在生殖保健中的引入，以问：生物医学技术如何影响关于身体、健康和生殖的文化意义？回答这个问题将提供有关全球新文化背景下技术与医疗相互作用的重要数据。这项研究将培养一名科学人类学和科学技术研究方面的研究生。研究结果将与医疗专业人员、公共卫生管理和公共政策专家分享，以努力为医疗实施和政策提供信息。研究人员将调查在女性医疗保健中使用新医疗技术的社会、历史和文化影响。这项研究将专注于经历医疗法律和实践最近变化的人群，以研究一种新药的使用如何影响关于健康、生殖和医疗保健的文化信仰。研究人员将重点关注正在实施或体验使用新药的医疗专业人员、卫生和政策管理者、患者和非医疗社会行为者。研究人员将访问医院和医疗诊所，参加政策和医疗保健非营利组织的会议，并在这些人群中进行定性访谈，以了解这项新技术如何改变医疗实践和围绕生殖健康的文化。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Technological advancement in today’s world changes how human beings interact, communicate, and obtain goods and services. Medical technologies in particular can affect how doctors understand and treat illness, how patients access healthcare, and how societies define healthy bodies. When technologies enter a new context, their use and significance is shaped by the existing political, economic, and cultural conditions in that locale. At the same time, the broader global medical aims of the technology can also impact and change the local culture. This study examines the introduction of a significant new pharmaceutical treatment in reproductive healthcare to ask: how do biomedical technologies affect cultural meanings about bodies, health, and reproduction? Answering this question will provide important data about the interaction of technologies and medical care in new cultural contexts globally. This research will train a graduate student in scientific anthropology and science and technology studies. Findings will be shared with medical professionals, public health administration, and public policy experts in an effort to inform healthcare implementation and policies.The researchers will investigate the social, historical, and cultural implications of the use of new medical technologies in women’s healthcare. The research will be focus on populations experiencing recent changes in healthcare law and practice to study how use of a new medical drug affects cultural beliefs about health, reproduction, and healthcare. The researchers will focus on the medical professionals, health and policy administrators, patients, and non-medical social actors who are implementing or experiencing the use of the new medicine. The researchers will visit hospitals and medical clinics, attend meetings of policy and healthcare non-profits, and conduct qualitative interviews across these populations to find out how this new technology is changing the practice of medicine and the culture surrounding reproductive healthcare.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.