Warwick Business School, The University of Warwick, Warwick, UK.
King's Business School, King's College London, London, UK.
Sociol Health Illn. 2022 Apr;44(4-5):725-744. doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.13458. Epub 2022 Mar 5.
This article responds to recent calls to further incorporate the study of animal health care into the sociology of health and illness. It focuses on a theme with a long tradition in medical sociology, namely clinical communication, but explores matters distinctive to veterinary practice. Drawing on video recordings of 60 consultations across three small animal veterinary clinics in the United Kingdom, we explore how clients and veterinarians (or "vets") fashion fleeting "coalitions of touch," that aptly position the animal to enable the performance of medical work, often in the face of physical resistance. Building on recent developments in the study of haptic sociality, we analyse how care and emotional concern for animal patients is communicated through various forms of embodied action; thus, how the problematics of forced care and restraint are mitigated through distinctive ways of touching and holding animal patients. Moreover, while prior studies of small animal veterinary work have highlighted the significance of talk within the clinician-animal-client triad, we reveal the fundamentally embodied and collaborative work of managing and controlling patients during sometimes intense and fast-moving episodes of veterinary care.
这篇文章回应了最近呼吁进一步将动物保健研究纳入健康和疾病社会学的呼吁。它侧重于医学社会学中具有悠久传统的主题，即临床交流，但探讨了兽医实践中独特的问题。本文借鉴了英国三家小动物兽医诊所的 60 次咨询的视频记录，探讨了客户和兽医（或“兽医”）如何巧妙地建立短暂的“触觉联盟”，使动物能够进行医疗工作，即使面对身体上的阻力。借鉴最近在触觉社会性研究方面的进展，我们分析了如何通过各种形式的身体动作传达对动物患者的关怀和情感关注；因此，如何通过独特的触摸和抱持动物患者的方式减轻强制性护理和约束的问题。此外，尽管先前对小动物兽医工作的研究强调了临床医生-动物-客户三方之间的谈话的重要性，但我们揭示了在有时紧张和快速的兽医护理过程中管理和控制患者的基本身体和协作工作。
