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A narrative of resistance: presentation of self when parenting children with asthma.
- Source :
-
Communication & medicine [Commun Med] 2009; Vol. 6 (1), pp. 27-37. - Publication Year :
- 2009
-
Abstract
- Using a social constructivist perspective and narrative analysis, the purpose of this paper is to illustrate how an understanding of self-presentation in interactions may inform health care interventions. We examine how a single African American mother, living in poverty, presents her sense of self in the context of obtaining and providing asthma care for her children. By analyzing four separate encounters--two interviews with the children's mother, the clinical encounter between the mother and her children's doctor, and an interview with the doctor, we gain an understanding of the mother's self-presentation and identity and the doctor's view of the mother. The analyses reveal the mother's consistent desire to protect her children in an unpredictable social world. By examining self-presentation, behavior that is typically construed as non-adherence is reframed as resilience, one mother's attempt to assert control. We argue that an understanding of identity production may enable practitioners and patients to create collaborative interventions. The analysis presented in this paper points to the need for a co-constructed intervention that allows for choice and control and honors the mother's sense of self.
- Subjects :
- Anti-Asthmatic Agents therapeutic use
Asthma drug therapy
Child
Child, Preschool
Culture
Drug Utilization
Female
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Healthcare Disparities
Humans
Male
Patient Compliance
Professional-Family Relations
Religion
Social Identification
Urban Population
Asthma ethnology
Parents psychology
Poverty
Racial Groups psychology
Self Concept
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1612-1783
- Volume :
- 6
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Communication & medicine
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 19798833
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1558/cam.v6i1.27