ADVANCE Fellows: Patient Access to Medical Knowledge on the Internet and the Doctor-Patient Relationship

University Of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

This ADVANCE Fellows award supports an anthropologist who is researching how patients' access to medical knowledge on the internet is reshaping doctor-patient relationships. The PI will compile 100 illness case studies consisting of interviews, questionnaires, and recordings of doctor-patient interactions over the course of each patient's treatment. With carefully structured comparisons, the research will discuss the internet's impact on people's medical lives and relationships, comment on any correlation between access to medical knowledge and social inequities in health, and test models of anthropological theory on the relationships between anxiety and the pursuit of knowledge on the one hand, authority and the distribution of knowledge on the other, and the overarching relationship between the two, that is between person and society. The PI will also engage in a number of educational and outreach activities including giving talks on doctor-patient relationships and cultural sensitivity. This award is supported through the NSF ADVANCE Program. The overall mission of the ADVANCE Program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers.