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Negotiating identity at the intersection of paediatric and genetic medicine: the parent as facilitator, narrator and patient
Author(s) -
Dimond Rebecca
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
sociology of health and illness
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1467-9566
pISSN - 0141-9889
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9566.12035
Subject(s) - facilitator , negotiation , context (archaeology) , identity (music) , ethnography , intersection (aeronautics) , medicine , developmental psychology , sociology , psychology , social psychology , anthropology , social science , paleontology , physics , acoustics , engineering , biology , aerospace engineering
This article identifies a significant transformation in the role and identity of parents accompanying their child to clinic. This shift is a product of the intersection between paediatric and genetic medicine, where parents play a critical role in providing information about their child, family and ultimately, about themselves. To provide a context for this matrix, two broad areas of sociological inquiry are highlighted. The first is explanations of the role a parent plays in paediatric medicine and the second is the diagnostic process in paediatric genetics and the implications for parent and child identities. Drawing from an ethnographic study of clinical consultations, attention is paid to the changing role of parenthood and the extended role of patienthood in paediatric genetic medicine.