Doctoral Dissertation Research: Changing Perceptions of Social Withdrawal in Quarantine

该奖项的全部或部分资金来自《2021年美国救援计划法案》(公法117-2)。截至2021年夏天，全球新冠肺炎大流行已经进入第二个年头，当地变种和全球对该病毒的处理参差不齐导致了新一波感染和不确定性。社区一直在努力适应完全隔离和部分隔离的生活。这一博士论文研究项目通过考虑隔离期间对精神健康的态度被重新定义的具体方式，为解决隔离期间暴露出来的精神健康问题做出了贡献。除了为人类学研究生提供经验、科学数据收集和分析方法方面的培训提供资金外，该项目d还传播研究结果和数据，以进一步开展关于科学和科学方法的公共教育，并利用协作网络建设能力，以开展未来关于心理健康的研究。该项目还扩大了历史上在科学界代表性不足的群体的参与。此外，对被隔离者如何解决他们的孤独经历的关注，有助于采取行动来应对可能在混乱之后袭击美国的“孤独流行病”。这篇论文研究了在社会动荡时期，心理健康和疾病的结构和概念是如何改变的。这项研究探索了一群长期呆在家里的社交隐士由于新冠肺炎的广泛隔离而发生的认知和经历的变化。虽然研究人群历来因潜在的心理健康问题而遭受耻辱，但隔离迫使公众情绪发生转变，并导致公众问，他们可以从一个与世隔绝的人群中学到什么。作为回报，情绪的转变可能会促使他们的经历发生永久性的变化。通过访谈、参与者观察和调查，这项人种学研究提供了对自我隔离观念的变化、心理健康概念的变化以及隔离经验的洞察。这些智力发现有助于人类学关于疾病构成的理论，以及关于社会和精神病学类别关系的科学技术研究。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). As of the summer of 2021, the global COVID-19 pandemic is well into its second year, with fresh waves of infection and uncertainty driven by local variants and uneven global handling of the virus. Communities have struggled to adjust to life in full- and partial- quarantine. This doctoral dissertation research project contributes to efforts to address mental health issues brought to light during quarantine, by considering the specific ways that attitudes toward mental health in quarantine have been reconceptualized. In addition to providing funding for the training of a graduate student in anthropology in the methods of empirical, scientific data collection and analysis, this project d disseminates findings and data to further public education about science and the scientific method, and leverages collaborative networks to build the capacity to conduct future research on mental health. The project also broadens the participation of groups historically underrepresented in science. Additionally, attention to how quarantined people address their lonely experiences inform initiatives to address the putative "loneliness epidemic" striking the U.S, even after the pandemic.This dissertation research project examines how constructions and conceptions of mental health and illness are transformed during periods of social upheaval. The research explores shifts in perceptions and experiences of a group of long-term stay-at-home social recluses, due to widespread quarantines in response to COVID-19. While the study population has historically experienced stigma for their potential mental health issues, quarantine forced a shift in public sentiment, and caused the public to ask what they might learn from a population that lives in isolation. In return, the shift in sentiment has prompted potentially permanent changes in their experiences. Through interviews, participant observation, and surveys this ethnographic study offers insight into the changed views of self-imposed isolation, changes in conceptions of mental health, and the experiences of quarantine. The intellectual findings contribute to anthropological theories of the constructions of illness, and science and technology studies on the relationship of society and psychiatric categories.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.