Sobo Elisa J, Herlihy Elizabeth, Bicker Mary
San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA.
Anthropol Med. 2011 Apr;18(1):119-36. doi: 10.1080/13648470.2010.525877.
More US-based patients than ever are travelling abroad for medical or dental services. Beyond financial incentives, what cultural factors have supported this trend? Because of their interest in selling medical travel, medical travel agencies (MTAs) have vested interests in this question. To find out how they are answering it, an ethnographic content analysis of MTA websites was undertaken. Beyond themes promoting a 'worry-free experience' of 'legitimate services', themes linking healthcare consumerism to culturally specific identity ideals and self-creation/representation processes predominated. Themes relating to the demonstration of social position, savvy expression of good consumer judgment, and achievement of libertarian ideals figured highly. However, various inconsistencies (including an appeal to tourism in some but not other situations) suggested that medical travel involves, for the US-based consumer, a complex act of juggling context-specific self-identity desires and expectations in relation to healthcare. The potential impact of prevailing discourses on 'self-construction-in-practice' was explored. Findings enhance understanding of the care seeking process as experienced within the context of globalized, mass-mediated healthcare consumerism. They also point to the need for finer-grained distinctions than the global gloss 'medical travel' offers.
越来越多的美国患者前往国外寻求医疗或牙科服务。除了经济诱因外，还有哪些文化因素推动了这一趋势？由于对推广医疗旅游有兴趣，医疗旅游机构（MTA）在这个问题上有既得利益。为了了解他们是如何回答这个问题的，对MTA网站进行了人种志内容分析。除了宣传 “合法服务” 的 “无忧体验” 的主题外，将医疗消费主义与特定文化身份理想以及自我塑造/自我呈现过程联系起来的主题占主导地位。与社会地位展示、精明的良好消费者判断力表达以及自由主义理想的实现相关的主题非常突出。然而，各种不一致之处（包括在某些但不是其他情况下诉诸旅游业）表明，对于美国消费者来说，医疗旅游涉及在与医疗保健相关的特定背景下的自我身份欲望和期望之间进行复杂的权衡。探讨了主流话语对 “实践中的自我建构” 的潜在影响。研究结果增进了对在全球化、大众传播的医疗消费主义背景下的就医过程的理解。它们还指出，需要比 “医疗旅游” 这个笼统术语所提供的更细致的区分。
