Medical Humanities最新文献

{"title":"Pandemics and the gothic, then and now: a hum in the background.","authors":"Julia M Wright","doi":"10.1136/medhum-2024-013193","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/medhum-2024-013193","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>While the assertion, 'no one really wants to talk about COVID anymore', has become a common refrain, cultural evidence suggests otherwise. Rather, cultural materials indicate not only a sustained interest in epidemic and pandemic experiences in the past but also continuing interest in our own pandemic era. However, this interest is often registered through gestures and brief mentions rather than explicit and sustained plague narratives. This paper considers these trends, especially in Gothic works, a literary tradition rooted in hyperbolic representations of threats that also represents disease on frank terms consistent with current medical knowledge. Pandemics appear in Gothic writing two centuries ago through brief references that suggest the daily experience of danger.Pandemic-era television is following the same strategies. Like 'fevers' and 'plagues' in the early 1800s, COVID-19 can be raised briefly and often indirectly. There is also attention to other aspects of the pandemic, including isolation and misinformation. In the popular Gothic series, <i>Interview with the Vampire</i> (2022-), 'plague' and misinformation are captured on terms drawn from earlier Gothic writing and intertwined to reflect on the misinformation of the COVID-19 era.</p>","PeriodicalId":46435,"journal":{"name":"Medical Humanities","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144081313","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Excess of death and the experiential disruption of death and mourning rituals during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa.","authors":"Lorena Nunez Carrasco, Kezia Rose Lewins, Silvie Cooper","doi":"10.1136/medhum-2024-013206","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/medhum-2024-013206","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In the context of South Africa's quadruple burden of disease, which includes a high prevalence of both infectious (particularly AIDS and tuberculosis) and non-communicable diseases, the COVID-19 pandemic has been signified by excess deaths. Although never officially acknowledged by the State, communities across the country have witnessed and experienced this excess. Departing from a syndemics approach, this paper focuses on the experiences of black African communities from low-resourced urban areas in selected central regions of South Africa.The paper delves into participants' experiences of the losing family and community members, as well as the disruption of their grief work resulting from the changes effected by the COVID-19 restrictive procedures on funerals and burials. Death and mourning practices, among the 20 participants in this study, are otherwise guided by the intertwining of Christian and African cultural traditions. Based on participant interviews, the paper reflects on the <i>incompleteness of ritual</i> associated with the disruption of COVID-19 restrictions and its impact on mourning in a context of <i>excess death</i> resulting in <i>unaccomplished grief work</i> In so doing, this paper raises critical issues regarding physical, emotional and mental health alongside pandemic responsibility, cultural diversity and human rights.</p>","PeriodicalId":46435,"journal":{"name":"Medical Humanities","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144053739","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mother's maladies: understanding the intricacies of postpartum psychosis and motherhood through Jerry Pinto's <i>Em and the Big Hoom</i>.","authors":"Neha Singh, Rajni Mujral","doi":"10.1136/medhum-2024-013183","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/medhum-2024-013183","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Motherhood, a familiar yet complex phenomenon, is informed by many factors whose consequences for women are often detrimental yet undermined. Particularly in India, discourse surrounding mothers' health often disregards the social and familial expectations and impositions that threaten women's authority over their own bodies. Amidst this, postpartum disorders, particularly the concept of postpartum psychosis, embody the anomalies of medical and social knowledge bases. Addressing the ambiguities and interconnectedness of motherhood and madness, this paper discusses the simplification of postpartum concerns as a biological condition alone and explores the complexities of diagnosis based on Em's aetiologies. Addressing the psychopathological and social nuances of postpartum psychosis, this paper also advocates for destigmatising women's apprehensions regarding the structural obligation of motherhood and broadening the discourse surrounding their reproductive autonomy.</p>","PeriodicalId":46435,"journal":{"name":"Medical Humanities","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144015100","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Traumatic narrative and medical care: clinical treatment in <i>The Vegetarian</i>.","authors":"Jenna Xinyi Niu","doi":"10.1136/medhum-2025-013236","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/medhum-2025-013236","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (fifth edition) (DSM-V) (American Psychiatric Association) provides clinical guidance for psychiatrists on mental disorders. It emphasises both clinical utility and the concern of sociocultural context but does not specify how to balance the need for practicability and the openness of culture. Attempting to address this conflict, I focus on the narration of trauma in Han Kang's <i>The Vegetarian</i> (2015) and discuss how traumatic narrative enables us to understand traumatised patients' mental states. In addition, allowing other family members to take part in the patient's narrative supplements the 'Cultural Formulation Interview' proposed in DSM-V. The analysis of the latest methodology in psychopathology and <i>The Vegetarian</i> demonstrates that while standardised medical care can provide medical guidance to common cases, literature, as a form of expression, is more powerful in presenting the internal life of traumatised people. This study argues that Han's novel has practical meaning in enlightening psychiatrists to refine therapies for psychopathological symptoms.</p>","PeriodicalId":46435,"journal":{"name":"Medical Humanities","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144040898","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"<b>\"</b>It's like The Matrix. You have all the numbers, all the information, but no touch, no feeling\": South African teachers' experiences of teaching oral hard-of-hearing learners (HoHL) during COVID-19 restrictions.","authors":"Victor Manuel de Andrade, Tashira Bava","doi":"10.1136/medhum-2024-013205","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/medhum-2024-013205","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>COVID-19 drastically impacted access to teaching worldwide. Furthermore, for children who are hard-of-hearing (HoH), these challenges were exacerbated, especially within contexts of infrastructural and resource constraints. Necessary COVID-19 protocols had implications for teaching HoH learners (HoHL) online and in-person, where, for example, connectivity and facemask-muffled speech impacted on teaching. Moreover, the reliance on technology during COVID-19 South African level 5 to level 1 restrictions revealed particular challenges for teachers of HoHL and the learners themselves.</p><p><strong>Methodology: </strong>This qualitative, cross-sectional study explored the experiences of teachers of oral HoHL in South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic. 11 teachers of grades 1-7 oral HoHL who were recruited through purposive and snowball sampling participated in individual, online, semi-structured interviews. Thereafter, interview transcriptions underwent thematic analysis.</p><p><strong>Findings: </strong>Participants reported that infrastructural constraints, information and communication technology resource limitations, interruptions in the continuity of education and COVID-19 precautions amplified challenges when teaching oral HoHL. Teachers reported behavioural and emotional challenges in the children whom they taught. Moreover, there seemed to be limited access to medical services for HoHL. Participants reported attempting to bridge the gap between the human and technology interfaces, notwithstanding the inconsistent and limited support services.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This study revealed that, as a consequence of COVID-19, South African teachers had to amend their teaching and assessment methodologies which emphasised the inequality in access to education in South Africa, especially the particular challenges related to education for HoHL. Teachers had to navigate an unknown terrain using modified methodologies and were reliant on technology within the constrained South African context where structural limitations further complicated the teaching of HoHL. COVID-19 highlighted that the confluence of disability, constrained resources and poor support mechanisms in South Africa threatens educational provision for learners with special needs.</p>","PeriodicalId":46435,"journal":{"name":"Medical Humanities","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143987541","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Of shopping bags and shame: issues of identity in palliative care social work in South Africa.","authors":"Michelle Petersen-Damon","doi":"10.1136/medhum-2024-013161","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/medhum-2024-013161","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Central to social work practice are issues of privilege and guidelines for its management. What is less considered, though, is how privilege is experienced, subverted and enacted, even in contexts where, from a policy perspective, dismantling privilege is central. I report here on my personal journey of growing up within the apartheid system and currently holding a senior position in a hospice organisation, a role which would have been unlikely for a person of colour during the apartheid era. I discuss the dynamics of identity, privilege and power within the context of palliative care social work in South Africa. Providing a narrative account of a significant interaction with a patient's family, I share my personal reflections from my perspective as a privileged Coloured social worker navigating the complexities of race and socioeconomic disparities, which remain prevalent in South African postapartheid society. With a Woolworths shopping bag as metaphor, I reflect on my internal struggle with being perceived as an outsider despite my cultural background. The Woolworths shopping bag, a metaphor for privilege and aspiration, evokes the historical inequalities faced by my family and highlights the ongoing challenges faced by social workers in reconciling their professional roles with their racialised identities. Motivated by my reflections, I advocate for a deeper understanding of how privilege and oppression manifest for social workers working with those who have experienced generational disparities in the South African context, facilitating a critical engagement with their life experiences and the implications of privilege when working with diverse communities.</p>","PeriodicalId":46435,"journal":{"name":"Medical Humanities","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144045869","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"\"I have suffered something\": traumatic childbirth in 19th-century Britain.","authors":"Jessica Cox","doi":"10.1136/medhum-2023-012883","DOIUrl":"10.1136/medhum-2023-012883","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In 1994, the American Psychiatric Association revised its definition of trauma in relation to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), enabling the recognition of childbirth as a potentially traumatic event leading to the development of symptoms of PTSD. This article considers clinical definitions of postpartum PTSD in relation to 19th-century case histories of difficult childbirth, and posits that the circumstances of some of these births-particularly in the context of higher infant and maternal mortality-mean they were likely to have been experienced as highly traumatic events, which may have led to the onset of symptoms today associated with postpartum PTSD. While resisting problematic retrospective diagnoses of postpartum PTSD, the article highlights the presence of the now widely recognised risk factors for the disorder in the experiences of these women, and demonstrates that birth in 19th-century Britain had significant potential to be experienced as a traumatic event for mothers. In doing so, it seeks to contribute to a wider conversation around-and expand our understanding of-women's (physical and emotional) experiences of childbirth at this time, as well as some of the medical practices commonly employed in the birthing room, and the ethical questions which emerge from some of these. The article begins by outlining the risk factors now associated with postpartum PTSD, before exploring these in relation to 19th-century birth narratives. It draws on medical case notes (primarily the case studies of Dr Robert Lee) and women's own accounts of childbirth, as well as advice literature for women on the subject of childbirth. The discussion focuses in particular on three issues: women's knowledge around childbirth and agency within the birthing room (including issues of consent); the use of interventions in childbirth; and infant loss. The final part of the article briefly considers 19th-century discourses around puerperal insanity, and notes an association between difficult deliveries and the onset of puerperal insanity in some cases.</p>","PeriodicalId":46435,"journal":{"name":"Medical Humanities","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143732275","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Health beyond statistics: a capabilitarian revision of Daniels' theory of just health.","authors":"Enea Lombardi","doi":"10.1136/medhum-2025-013268","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/medhum-2025-013268","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This paper examines how the biostatistical theory (BST), as endorsed by Norman Daniels' account of just health, can be integrated with the capabilities approach to address the 'lowering functioning objection'. This objection argues that the BST could mistakenly define a population as healthier if the prevalence of a certain pathology increases and becomes the new statistical norm. To tackle this issue and offer a more coherent and normatively robust account of just health, the paper introduces a two-tiered model. The first tier retains the biostatistical model to provide a non-comprehensive, evidence-based foundation for health, focusing on the distribution of biological functionings within a population. The second tier introduces a capabilitarian survey that normatively assesses whether the new statistical norm supports or hinders the achievement of valuable capabilities. This integration enables a more holistic, flexible, pluralistic and context-sensitive understanding of health, framing it as a quasi-normative meta-capability-namely, a capability grounded in biological functionings but not reducible to them, which is essential for achieving other valuable capabilities. After explaining the rationale for this integration and outlining a Rawlsian-inspired approach to selecting valuable capabilities, I conclude by suggesting the implications of this model for Daniels' theory.</p>","PeriodicalId":46435,"journal":{"name":"Medical Humanities","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143789098","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Double life of the pill: towards a cabaret methodology for contraceptive research.","authors":"Katie Paterson","doi":"10.1136/medhum-2024-013101","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/medhum-2024-013101","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In this article, I propose cabaret methodology as a valuable paradigm for capturing experiences of hormonal contraception in all their complexity. I sought a playful, self-aware and ethically rigorous practice to explore and express the lived experiences of people who use hormonal contraception, including myself. I have spent the past 4 years developing the solo cabaret piece Side FX, which functions as a repository of contraceptive experiences and histories, and queers the clinical encounter through comedic audience participation.The pill is variously configured as an agent of liberation or oppression, a liberal feminist victory or a white feminist weapon. Curiously for such a contentious technology, it is rarely visible in theatre, film or television. Taking the pill is an action so mundane that it rarely ever merits dramatic representation. It is the antithesis of drama done to prevent a sudden and drastic change (pregnancy, motherhood, abortion), yet drastic changes are often felt by the pill-taker, dramatically complicated by their ambiguity. Working within a tradition of feminist health activism, I argue for the importance of maintaining multiplicity while analysing discourse around the pill.Cabaret presents itself as a forum through which to explore, express and trouble the experiences under consideration; a series of turns, connected thematically, hosted by a mercurial, dominant presence, revelling in rug-pulling, sophisticated comedy and contradictions. The application of cabaret to research can allow multiplicity and ambiguity to stand without rejecting the paradigms of research altogether. I argue that these multiple narratives offer a productive ambiguity that reflects how varied individual experiences of hormonal contraception are.</p>","PeriodicalId":46435,"journal":{"name":"Medical Humanities","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143789093","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"'Some people talk about children as though they're completely different': hospital art, architecture and design for children in modern Britain.","authors":"Victoria Bates","doi":"10.1136/medhum-2025-013234","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/medhum-2025-013234","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Children's hospitals are often thought to be special places, marked by particular attention to emotions and careful consideration of inclusive design. Photographs of children's hospitals, or design for children within general hospitals, often showcase primary colours and playfulness. Such aesthetic qualities are, at first glance, exceptional for healthcare environments and reinforce the idea that children's hospitals are special or unique. This article, however, reconsiders this notion of exceptionalism in two ways. First, it uses the history of modern British hospitals to show that some of these qualities-such as bright colour and playfulness-might have once been a special feature of design for children, but were qualities of some adult hospital design by the end of the twentieth century. It makes this point, further, through a collection of interviews with professionals working in hospital art, architecture and design. In so doing, it places greater emphasis on process; interviews show the general expansion of person-centred design, and indicate that it has closed the gap between design for children and adults in both process and outcome.</p>","PeriodicalId":46435,"journal":{"name":"Medical Humanities","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143774587","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}