The effects of pain management on pain concepts and experiences

在不同的环境中，获得止痛药的机会差别很大。这如何影响疼痛的概念以及不同类型和经历的疼痛的治疗方式仍然知之甚少。本研究运用文化人类学的理论来研究疼痛护理中的文化差异如何影响患者对疼痛的理解和体验，进而研究疼痛概念化的差异如何影响社会关系。该项目为来自代表性不足群体的博士后研究员、研究生和本科生提供培训。结果将广泛传播给学术和非学术受众，包括医疗工作者和其他利益攸关方。这个项目的目标是调查疼痛和护理实践，以了解不同的生物医学和文化背景是如何塑造疼痛的实践和意义的。该项目使用人种学、卫生设施和社区环境中的访谈以及文件和档案分析来追求三个相辅相成的目标：调查生物医学与社区主导的护理做法的差异；了解护理做法的差异如何影响社会关系；以及了解不同的文化背景如何与2和3相交，以塑造对痛苦的体验和理解。这项研究将有助于开发和测试理论，这些理论解释了个体属性和社会、文化和政治结构在塑造身心联系的意义和经验方面的复杂交集。这一奖项反映了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。

Access to pain medication varies considerably in different settings. How this affects concepts of pain and the way different types and experiences of pain are treated remains poorly understood. This research uses theory from cultural anthropology to investigate how cultural variation in pain care affects how sufferers understand and experience pain and, in turn, how variation in conceptualizations of pain affect social relationships. The project provides training for a postdoctoral researcher, a graduate student, and undergraduate students from underrepresented groups. Results will be disseminated broadly to academic and non-academic audiences, including healthcare workers and other stakeholders. The goal of this project is to investigate pain and care practices to understand how practices and meanings of pain are shaped by varying biomedical and cultural contexts. The project uses ethnography, interviews in health facilities and community settings, and document and archival analysis to pursue three complementary objectives: to investigate differences in biomedical versus community-driven care practices; to understand how differences in care practices affect and are affected by social relationships; and to understand how different cultural contexts intersect with 2 and 3 to shape experiences and understandings of pain. This research will help to develop and test theories that account for the complex intersections of individual attributes and social, cultural, and political structures in shaping meaning and experience in the mind-body connection.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.