Doctoral Dissertation Research: Origins of Diabetes Concepts in an Urban American Indian Community

University Of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI

Investigators

Abstract

University of Wisconsin doctoral candidate Margaret Pollak, with the guidance of Dr. Claire Wendland, will undertake research on the processes through which people form concepts of disease. Her particular focus will be on how multiple actors involved in chronic condition care develop and negotiate their understandings of disease. The research will be conducted in Chicago, Illinois, with American Indian diabetics, informal caregivers, and biomedical providers. American Indians have some of the highest rates of diabetes worldwide. While more than sixty percent of American Indians live in urban areas, the majority of studies on the American Indian diabetes epidemic are centered on reservations. Research methods will include a combination of participant observation, participant shadowing, semi-structured interviews, and the collection and analysis of diabetes-related literature utilized by research participants. The project seeks to meet three overarching research objectives: (1) document the factors that shape patient and provider concepts of diabetes, (2) trace the movement of these concepts in order to understand the extent to which patient knowledge is shaped by biomedical models, as well as the extent to which patient knowledge influences biomedical models, and (3) investigate what role these diabetes concepts play in the constitution of an urban American Indian community. The research has both policy and theory-building importance. It will extend scholarship in anthropology and science and technology studies by investigating how disease concepts are formed through social interactions as well as through biomedical evidence. Findings from this research also will offer insight to public health workers developing diabetes prevention and care programs to be implemented in urban and multicultural healthcare settings. In addition, the research will contribute to anthropological studies of urban American Indian life by investigating what role diabetes and concepts of the condition disseminated by local health and social institutions play in integrating individuals from varied tribal and personal backgrounds. Supporting this research also supports the education of a graduate student.