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Conceiving Infertility: Negotiating the... - Document (277 K) |
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| Author |
Sisson, Gretchen |
| Title |
Conceiving Infertility: Negotiating the Biomedical Model |
| Date created |
2009 |
| Abstract |
Assisted reproductive technologies have transformed the way medicine responds to infertility, as well as the ways those who go through difficulty conceiving understand their bodies and their experiences. In many capacities, however, the biomedical model is insufficient: recognition is contingent upon attempts to conceive, diagnosis is often imprecise or unexplained, and treatments strive for solutions without cures - and are frequently incapable of providing even the former. Interviews with 26 participants with current or recent histories of infertility revealed the ways they negotiate the biomedical model: 1) going beyond medical treatment in making lifestyle changes; 2) pursuing alternative treatments; 3) questioning doctors and playing active roles in determining courses of treatment; 4) using religion, spirituality, or magical thinking to develop other, non-bodily ways of controlling infertility; 5) extracting meaning from the experiences, infusing the objective idea of "disease" with subjective purpose; 6) building personal, alternate models that encompass a wide range of ways of thinking about infertility; and 7) directly challenging the scientific authority of the biomedical model, resisting the terms of treatment, or questioning the ability of medicine to offer them solutions. No participants showed pure compliance - as all included at least one of the negotiations - and none showed full resistance - as all had sought at least some medical treatments. Understanding these negotiations leads to a better concept of patient identity and the "illness" experience; it can inform policy in regards to prevention, education, and insurance mandates; and it better reveals who society permits to pursue parenthood in what ways. |
| Use Restrictions |
I hereby allow Boston College to include and preserve my dissertation/thesis in electronic form in the Boston College Institutional Repository, which shall include the right to publicly post my dissertation/thesis on the World Wide Web. I will retain copyright ownership, but I grant to Boston College the non-exclusive right to copy, distribute, and publicly display my dissertation/thesis in any form as may be necessary or convenient in the future as file formats, storage media, and distribution mechanisms evolve. |
| Subject |
alternative treatments |
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biomedical model |
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infertility |
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IVF |
| Publisher |
Boston College |
| Link to Item |
2345/1103 |
| Thesis Advisor |
Pfohl, Stephen |
| Degree Name |
MA |
| Degree Grantor |
Boston College. Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. |
| Sys. No. |
000001766 |
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