Whitmore Rebecca, Crooks Valorie A, Snyder Jeremy
Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V58 1S6.
Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V58 1S6.
Health Place. 2015 Sep;35:113-8. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2015.08.004. Epub 2015 Sep 15.
This study examines the experiences of informal caregivers in medical tourism through an ethics of care lens. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 Canadians who had accompanied their friends or family members abroad for surgery, asking questions that dealt with their experiences prior to, during and after travel. Thematic analysis revealed three themes central to an ethics of care: responsibility, vulnerability and mutuality. Ethics of care theorists have highlighted how care has been historically devalued. We posit that medical tourism reproduces dominant narratives about care in a novel care landscape. Informal care goes unaccounted for by the industry, as it occurs in largely private spaces at a geographic distance from the home countries of medical tourists.
本研究通过关怀伦理视角审视了医疗旅游中非正式照护者的经历。我们对20名陪同朋友或家人出国手术的加拿大人进行了半结构化访谈，询问了他们在旅行前、旅行中和旅行后的经历。主题分析揭示了关怀伦理的三个核心主题：责任、脆弱性和相互性。关怀伦理理论家强调了关怀在历史上是如何被贬低的。我们认为，医疗旅游在一个全新的照护环境中重现了关于照护的主流叙事。该行业没有考虑到非正式照护，因为它主要发生在与医疗游客母国地理距离较远的私人空间中。
