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Biomedical subjects

L Manderson

Publications and source records attributed to L Manderson.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1994

The diagnosis and management of fever at household level in the Greater Accra Region, Ghana.

> Qualitative research methods were used in rural and urban areas of the Greater Accra Region to generate data to describe the folk diagnosis, etiology and management of malaria. Respondents defined as fever a set of symptoms loosely concordant with clinical malaria. Primary cause of fever as heat and particularly in rural areas, an understanding of the role of mosquitos in transmitting fever was limited. First- and second-line treatments adopted by caretakers, when either they or their children were sick, involved considerable self-medication with chloroquine and paracetamol. Ethnographic data were supplemented and tested for generalizability through a cross-sectional survey, and the paper discusses this methodological approach.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Perceptions of menopause in northeast Thailand: contested meaning and practice.

This paper draws on data collected from village-based ethnographic research conducted in northeast Thailand in 1990-1991 and highlights the polarities and contradictions of perceptions of menopause that exist between village women and health personnel with whom these women interact. For village women until recently, the menopause has been regarded as a simple and natural biological event; for health professionals, it is consistently represented as a 'medical problem' indicating treatment. The paper highlights women's construction of menopause, and their recognition and management of its physical symptoms. It draws attention too to differences among women and to the dynamic nature of their understandings and consequent health-seeking behaviour. The paper also describes the way in which health providers, through their own training and reading of professional and popular journals, increasingly represent the menopause as a pathological process and treatable condition. Through the exploration of conflicting perceptions of the menopause among contemporary Thai women, the paper draws attention to the heterogeneity and fluidity in understandings of biological processes that are related to and reflect the wider social and economic changes to which they are subject.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Drugs, sex and social science: social science research and health policy in Australia.

Social science health research in Australia has undergone considerable expansion through government sponsorship of projects that complement or address issues related directly to policy and program concerns. In examining the rationale for supporting social science research, and the difficulties that social scientists often face in return in presenting their work in ways that might optimize funding, the paper first explores the paradigmatic tensions between social and biomedical scientists, that in turn influence funding decisions and potentially the receipt and uptake of social research. It also addresses the incorporation of the language and concepts of social science within policy documents, using 'ethnicity' as an exemplar of this. The paper then documents and analyses federal targeted-funding programs for health research, and the measures taken to encourage policy-relevant research. In particular, the paper discusses the funding programs that operate for drug and alcohol use and HIV/AIDS.

Australia↗
PubMed1992

Schistosomiasis and the social patterning of infection.

Social, cultural, behavioural and economic factors interact with local environmental and ecological factors to produce extraordinary variation in the epidemiology of schistosomiasis, including with respect to prevalence and intensity of infection and the potential for control. This article reviews the literature on schistosomiasis infection, primarily derived from African studies, to identify its major social themes. Research has demonstrated a strong link between economic development strategies, where irrigation has been introduced to boost agricultural production, and the increased transmission of infection. Water-contact studies have provided the fullest and most detailed descriptions of social risk factors, and have isolated age, sex, religion and occupation as primary risk factors. However, fuller explorations of the social and cultural context of infection have yet to be undertaken. The social context of water-related behaviour and patterns of water use within communities and households, the intersection of social and economic activities, and the significance that people give to these activities, remains poorly explored, and although research papers concerned with community-based interventions refer to poor community understanding of the cause, prevention and treatment of the disease, this domain has also received little scholarly attention. Finally, economic studies have focused primarily on working capacity, and extrapolated these findings to generalize about the impact that this might have on productivity, but have yet to address either household or community costs of schistosomiasis infection.

Africa↗
PubMed1992

An epidemic in the field? Rapid assessment procedures and health research.

This paper reviews the development of various methods designed to generate relevant social information, pertaining to health and disease control, quickly and accurately. In so doing, we examine the use of KAP surveys and the subsequent development of community diagnosis, rapid appraisal methods, rapid epidemiological assessment, and rapid assessment procedures (RAP) for anthropological studies. Our focus is on the development of anthropological RAPs, in response to the lack of professionally trained social scientists to work with disease control programmes and ministries of health, and in light of the demonstrable need for social science input in the development of health policies and programmes. These developments are assessed in terms of scope and method. Issues relating to the representativeness, reliability and validity of RAP studies are discussed, and mechanisms by which to maximise the yield of valid data are presented.

Communicable Disease Control↗
PubMed1987

Health services and the legitimation of the colonial state: British Malaya 1786-1941.

This article is concerned with the establishment and extension of health care and medical services in British colonial Malaya. Initially, medical care was provided for the colonial elite and those in their direct employment. With the expansion of colonial control beyond trade centers into the hinterland and with the growth of agriculture and mining. Western medicine was extended both to labor involved in these export industries and to others whose ill health might jeopardize the welfare of the colonists. Public health programs in the twentieth century continued to focus on medical problems that had direct impact on the colonial economy, but programs were extended to ensure the reproduction as well as the maintenance of the labor force. This article develops the notion of a legitimation vacuum, and the role of the state provision of social services, including medical services, in legitimizing colonial presence and control.

Delivery of Health Care↗
PubMed1984

'These are modern times': infant feeding practice in Peninsular Malaysia.

Traditionally, Malaysian women (Malay, Indian and Chinese) breastfed their infants as a matter of course and for an extended period of time; only elite Chinese women might have resorted to a wet-nurse. But the introduction of condensed and dehydrated milk in colonial Malaya from the late nineteenth century, and the later marketing also of commercially manufactured baby foods, led to some variation in traditional practice. Structural changes, industrialiZation and urbanisation affected social as well as economic life, and again these broad changes had an impact on infant feeding. Today, few women remain unfamiliar with the wide range of infant food products sold in the most isolated provision shops. This paper focuses on key sociological factors that might predict the frequency and duration of breastfeeding and weaning patterns. The data analysed below, collected during semi-structured interviews with 278 women presenting at Maternal and Child Health Clinics in Peninsular Malaysia, are in part confusing. They suggest that the women most likely to bottle feed only or to breast feed for a short period, and to use commercial baby foods, are young, with one child only, who reside in urban or peri-urban areas and have a reasonable household income. Higher educated women, and women whose husbands are in non-traditional occupations, are also less likely to breast feed or to do so for an extended period. But the profile of infant feeding practices is by no means clear. One of the shortcomings of the study relates to the method of collection of data, and highlights the need for detailed ethnographic studies to better explore the variability and complexity of the patterns of infant feeding.

Bottle Feeding↗
PubMed1982

Bottle feeding and ideology in colonial Malaya: the production of change.

Considerable attention has been paid to the correlation between high infant morbidity and mortality rates and the increased incidence of bottle feeding. The shift from prolonged breast feeding to a mixed regime or the exclusive use of sweetened condensed milk or infant formula has been related to the promotional activities of milk companies, and typically has been presented as a relatively recent development in Third World countries. However, the marketing of tinned and powdered milk only partially explains the increased use of these products. In colonial Malaya, condensed milk was marketed from the late 19th century. Infant formula was available from the turn of the century and was widely advertised, first in the English-language press and later also in the vernacular presses. At the same time, other social and cultural factors served to discourage breast feeding. There were changes in ideas regarding ideal body weight for both women and infants, and regarding infant care and diet; these ideas were presented in the mass media. In addition, maternal and child health clinics, established in the 1920s to reduce the high infant mortality rate, both propagated popular beliefs about infant weight and supplied milk and educated women to artificially feed their infants. Industry, the media, and health services all promoted, if not always intentionally, bottle feeding rather than breast feeding. Bottle feeding as an ideal, if not a reality, was thus well established before the intensive promotion of milk products by multinational corporations that followed the political independence of the colony.

Advertising↗
PubMed1981

Vietnamese attitudes towards maternal and infant health.

Behavioural and dietary precautions, observed both by ethnic Vietnamese and by Vietnamese-Chinese women during pregnancy and the puerperium, derive from the humoral medical classification of foodstuffs and physiological states. Migration to Australia has led only to minor modification of the birth prescriptions, which provide women with a means of dealing with the physiological-medical and psychological-personal changes brought about by pregnancy and delivery. However, traditional practices of infant feeding have largely been abandoned in favour of a short period either of breast feeding only or of exclusive bottle feeding and the early introduction of solids.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Empowering women: participatory approaches in women's health and development projects.

The authors describe the experience of NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) and community-based organizations in implementing projects aimed at improving women's health. The study included 16 projects, reflecting Australian NGO experiences in Africa, China, Southeast Asia, the Pacific, and South America. They illustrate the value of participatory approaches in determining needs and priorities, and the value of the continued involvement of women in implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. Approaches that succeeded in increasing women's access to and use of health services addressed gender issues, set realistic and achievable objectives, and recognized and enhanced the roles and status of women.

Australia↗