Matching Items (4)
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- All Subjects: Women's Studies
- All Subjects: Breast
- Creators: Wutich, Amber
Description
While women in higher income countries can expect to survive a diagnosis of breast cancer, women in lower- and middle-income countries such as Bangladesh have mortality rates near 50%, suggesting that there are significant barriers to care seeking for breast problems. Given limited literature on barriers to care among native, rural South Asian populations, this study thus sought to understand 1) the impacts of breast problems on women and their families, including the extent of abuse among women with breast problems, and 2) the barriers and facilitators of care for women with breast problems in rural Bangladesh.
Sixty-three study participants (43 women and 20 men) were interviewed about their experiences. Interviewers elicited barriers to care, facilitators of care, and questions about the attitudes and behaviors of family and community members were in structured interviews.
The study found that breast problems and their treatment put significant resource and emotional strains on the family. Furthermore, over a third of women in this study reported abuse of some kind, with emotional abuse, neglect, and abandonment being the most frequently reported.
The study reinforced barriers to care identified in the literature for South Asian populations, but only a quarter of participants reported stigma of any kind. Lack of knowledge about breast cancer and inability to pay for care were the most frequently reported barriers, followed by access to care and fear of treatment. Facilitators of care among women who received a biopsy point to the importance of support by the husband and husband’s family, as well as the ability to identify economic support for and knowledge about care.
This study contributes to the understanding of two overarching themes: structural violence and the value of women, as well as how these themes influence poor outcomes for women with breast cancer in rural Bangladesh. Suggestions for future studies and short and long-term interventions to address study findings are offered.
Sixty-three study participants (43 women and 20 men) were interviewed about their experiences. Interviewers elicited barriers to care, facilitators of care, and questions about the attitudes and behaviors of family and community members were in structured interviews.
The study found that breast problems and their treatment put significant resource and emotional strains on the family. Furthermore, over a third of women in this study reported abuse of some kind, with emotional abuse, neglect, and abandonment being the most frequently reported.
The study reinforced barriers to care identified in the literature for South Asian populations, but only a quarter of participants reported stigma of any kind. Lack of knowledge about breast cancer and inability to pay for care were the most frequently reported barriers, followed by access to care and fear of treatment. Facilitators of care among women who received a biopsy point to the importance of support by the husband and husband’s family, as well as the ability to identify economic support for and knowledge about care.
This study contributes to the understanding of two overarching themes: structural violence and the value of women, as well as how these themes influence poor outcomes for women with breast cancer in rural Bangladesh. Suggestions for future studies and short and long-term interventions to address study findings are offered.
ContributorsSteiness, Heather Lynn Story (Author) / Hruschka, Daniel J (Thesis advisor) / Wutich, Amber (Committee member) / Ginsburg, Ophira (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Under-representation of women doctors in medical work force despite their overwhelming majority in medical schools is an intriguing social issue for Pakistan raising important questions related to evolving gender relations in Pakistani society. Previous research on the broader issue of under-representation of women in science has focused primarily on the structural barriers to women’s advancement. It does not account for the underlying subtle (and changing) gendered power relations that permeate everyday life and which can constrain (or enable) the choices of women. It also does not address how women are not simply constructed as subjects within intersecting power relations, but actively construct meaning in relation to them. It raises interesting questions about the cultural shaping of subjectivities, identities and agency of women within the web of power relations in a society such as Pakistan.
To analyze the underlying dynamics of this issue, this dissertation empirically examines the individual, institutional and social factors which enable or affect the career choices of Pakistani women doctors. Based on the ethnographic data obtained from in-depth, person centered, open ended interviews with sixty women doctors and their families, as well as policy makers and the stake holders in medical education and health administration in Lahore, Pakistan this dissertation seeks to address the complex issues of empowerment and agency in the context of Pakistani women, both in individual and collective sense.
Participation in medical education is ostensibly an empowering act, but dissecting the social relations in which this decision takes place reveals that becoming a doctor actually enmeshes women further in the disciplinary relations within their families and society. Similarly, the medical workplaces of Pakistan are marked by entrenched gendered hierarchies constraining women’s access to resources and their progression through medical career. Finally, the political implications of defining work in medicine, and devaluing care in capitalist economies is explored.
To analyze the underlying dynamics of this issue, this dissertation empirically examines the individual, institutional and social factors which enable or affect the career choices of Pakistani women doctors. Based on the ethnographic data obtained from in-depth, person centered, open ended interviews with sixty women doctors and their families, as well as policy makers and the stake holders in medical education and health administration in Lahore, Pakistan this dissertation seeks to address the complex issues of empowerment and agency in the context of Pakistani women, both in individual and collective sense.
Participation in medical education is ostensibly an empowering act, but dissecting the social relations in which this decision takes place reveals that becoming a doctor actually enmeshes women further in the disciplinary relations within their families and society. Similarly, the medical workplaces of Pakistan are marked by entrenched gendered hierarchies constraining women’s access to resources and their progression through medical career. Finally, the political implications of defining work in medicine, and devaluing care in capitalist economies is explored.
ContributorsMasood, Ayesha (Author) / Tsuda, Takeyuki (Thesis advisor) / Wutich, Amber (Committee member) / Gaughan, Monica (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Over the last four centuries, Black women have been overwhelmingly understood, imagined, and defined through a Eurocentric and oppressive lens. The Eurocentric or white lens places pseudo-characteristics on Black women that inaccurately describe them. The qualities ascribed to Black women are rooted in racial ideologies that benefit and progress the interest of White supremacy. This history has placed Black women in tension with institutionalized medicine, discouraging them from seeking or using healthcare resources. Without trust in a system positioned to heal, treat, and prevent health ailments, Black women cannot dialogue with those that are a part of that system. Paulo Freire argues that "dialogue is the encounter between men, mediated by the world, in order to name the world (Freire, 2000, p. 90)." By centering Black women and their voices, I envision (re)naming the world. Understanding how Black women from Lincoln County, Mississippi describe their health and bodies sheds light on their daily experiences that facilitate self-care, womanhood, and identity. This dissertation covers three related studies that are addressing: 1) how Black women from Mississippi see their bodies outside of deficit health, 2) how Black women’s sisterhood has been a collective effort to build womanhood and health, and how societal stereotypes can interfere or damage the progress of sisterhood, and 3) the importance of allowing for Black women’s ways of knowing to create liberatory data collection methods that represent who they are and their truth. I examine these dynamics using a mixed-methods approach including community-based participatory research and rapid ethnographic assessment sampling techniques (e.g., working with a community advisor), semi-structured interviews, Sister-girl Talks (focus groups), participant observation, and autoethnography. The results of the three-study mixed methods dissertation has both theoretical and practical implications for understanding the vital role that Black women need to play bring healing to their health in both healthcare settings (e.g., clinics) and healthcare planning (health evaluation programs and interventions.
ContributorsMitchell, Charlayne (Author) / Slade, Alexandra (Thesis advisor) / SturtzSreetharan, Cindi (Thesis advisor) / Davis, Olga I (Committee member) / Ore, Ersula J (Committee member) / Wutich, Amber (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
There is an enormous unmet need for services, education, and outreach to improve women’s breast health. Healthcare systems and insurance systems vary widely around the world, and this may play an important role in understanding variability in women’s breast health knowledge and behavior globally. The goal of this study is to determine how varying healthcare systems in three countries (Japan, Paraguay, US) affect a woman’s likelihood of seeing a physician in regard to their breasts. For example, Japan is a clear example of a region that provides universal health insurance to its citizens. The government takes responsibility in giving accessible and equitable healthcare to its entire population (Zhang & Oyama, 2016). On the other hand, a country such as Paraguay is composed of both public and private sectors. In order for citizens to gain insurance, one would have to either be formally employed or choose to pay out-of-pocket for hospital visits (“Paraguay”, 2017). A country such as the United States does not have universal health insurance. However, it does have a mix of public and private sectors, meaning there is little to no coverage for its citizens. To accommodate for this, the United States came up with the Affordable Care Act, which extends coverage to the uninsured. Although the United States might be a country that spends more on healthcare than any other nation, there are residents that still lack healthcare (De Lew, Greenberg & Kinchen, 1992). This study, then, compares women’s breast health knowledge and behavior in Japan, Paraguay, and the US. Other variables, which are also considered in this study, that might affect this include wealth level, education, having general awareness of breast cancer, having regular health checks, and having some breast education. Using statistical analysis of breast check rates of women in Japan, Paraguay, and the United States, this research found that women sampled in Asunción, Paraguay check their breasts more often than either women sampled from Scottsdale, U.S. or Osaka, Japan. It was also found that women sampled from Paraguay were more confident in detecting changes in their breast compared to women sampled from the Japan or the US. Finally, it was noted that women sampled from Japan were least likely to partake in seeing a doctor in concern of changes in their breasts compared to women sampled from the other two research locations. These findings have relevance for the implementation of advocacy and public education about breast health.
ContributorsKumar, Navneet Surjit (Co-author) / Kumar, Navneet (Co-author) / Wutich, Amber (Thesis director) / Brewis, Alexandra (Committee member) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05