Doctoral Dissertation: Pregnancy and Diabetes in Pima Women: Ideas of Risk, Treatment Efficiacy and Diabetes Prevention In and After Pregnancy

University Of Arizona, Tucson AZ

Investigators

Abstract

This project will investigate high rates of diabetes among the Pima, a group of Native Americans living on the Gila River reservation. The researcher will focus on why the Pima participate in or reject biomedical treatment and prevention, and how they seek to combine biomedicine with their own desires for self-determination and cultural identity. As the incidence of diabetes is on the rise in this population, biomedical treatment participation and completion continue to be poor. The research will document Native American health seeking behaviors and illness interpretation in a context of pluralistic therapy systems, as well as in terms of their specific social and political economic situation in American society. The research will focus specifically on Pima women (mothers and pregnant women); of women over age 35, approximately half have diabetes.