Difference between revisions of "Ostermann2021b"

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|Title=Women's (limited) agency over their sexual bodies: Contesting contraceptive recommendations in Brazil
 
|Title=Women's (limited) agency over their sexual bodies: Contesting contraceptive recommendations in Brazil
 
|Tag(s)=EMCA; Medical EMCA; Patient Resistance; Patient Acceptance; Sexual and Reproductive Rights; Contraception; Women's Health; Doctor-patient interaction; Brazil
 
|Tag(s)=EMCA; Medical EMCA; Patient Resistance; Patient Acceptance; Sexual and Reproductive Rights; Contraception; Women's Health; Doctor-patient interaction; Brazil
|Key=Ostermann2021a
+
|Key=Ostermann2021b
 
|Year=2021
 
|Year=2021
 
|Language=English
 
|Language=English
 
|Journal=Social Science & Medicine
 
|Journal=Social Science & Medicine
 
|Volume=290
 
|Volume=290
 +
|URL=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114276
 +
|DOI=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114276
 
|Abstract=Unintended pregnancies constitute a serious public health concern in Brazil, representing up to 55% of all pregnancies, and are prevalent among women with low income and low educational backgrounds. Lack of assistance to women in their decision-making has hindered the adoption of more effective contraceptive models. Although clinical consultations constitute an important locus to assist women in decision-making and to facilitate access to subsidized methods, our current knowledge of how contraception is discussed and decisions are reached in actual consultations is limited. Just as scarce is our knowledge of how patients respond and resist contraception recommendations and how physicians counter or accommodate patients. Using a corpus of 103 audio-recorded medical visits and conversation analytic (CA) methods, this paper examines recommendation sequences in the under-investigated gynecological consultations in the Brazilian public healthcare system (SUS). The quantitative analysis reveals a strong orientation to physicians as having primary rights to govern the oversight of women's bodies: 94% of the recommendations are delivered as pronouncements (e.g., “You'll take X″), the most authoritative action type. Patients largely assume an agreeable and passive role (66%), leading to scarce negotiation and minimal involvement in decision-making. However, in a few cases (12%), all involving contraception, patients become overtly agentive, responding with active resistance. A qualitative analysis of that subset shows that despite women's gaining some agency over their sexual bodies, that agency is still limited. Whereas physicians accommodate patient resistance on grounds of biomedically-related side-effects and incorrect assumptions about the women's lives, they overlook patient resistance based on gendered struggles over contraceptive methods in the domestic sphere. By failing to consider women's lack of agency in choosing whether to have sex or to use condoms, doctors show unawareness of significant consequences of the recommended method, which might include domestic dispute and violence and, paradoxically, ultimately misfire, leading to unwanted pregnancy.
 
|Abstract=Unintended pregnancies constitute a serious public health concern in Brazil, representing up to 55% of all pregnancies, and are prevalent among women with low income and low educational backgrounds. Lack of assistance to women in their decision-making has hindered the adoption of more effective contraceptive models. Although clinical consultations constitute an important locus to assist women in decision-making and to facilitate access to subsidized methods, our current knowledge of how contraception is discussed and decisions are reached in actual consultations is limited. Just as scarce is our knowledge of how patients respond and resist contraception recommendations and how physicians counter or accommodate patients. Using a corpus of 103 audio-recorded medical visits and conversation analytic (CA) methods, this paper examines recommendation sequences in the under-investigated gynecological consultations in the Brazilian public healthcare system (SUS). The quantitative analysis reveals a strong orientation to physicians as having primary rights to govern the oversight of women's bodies: 94% of the recommendations are delivered as pronouncements (e.g., “You'll take X″), the most authoritative action type. Patients largely assume an agreeable and passive role (66%), leading to scarce negotiation and minimal involvement in decision-making. However, in a few cases (12%), all involving contraception, patients become overtly agentive, responding with active resistance. A qualitative analysis of that subset shows that despite women's gaining some agency over their sexual bodies, that agency is still limited. Whereas physicians accommodate patient resistance on grounds of biomedically-related side-effects and incorrect assumptions about the women's lives, they overlook patient resistance based on gendered struggles over contraceptive methods in the domestic sphere. By failing to consider women's lack of agency in choosing whether to have sex or to use condoms, doctors show unawareness of significant consequences of the recommended method, which might include domestic dispute and violence and, paradoxically, ultimately misfire, leading to unwanted pregnancy.
 
}}
 
}}

Latest revision as of 13:27, 19 December 2024

Ostermann2021b
BibType ARTICLE
Key Ostermann2021b
Author(s) Ana Cristina Ostermann
Title Women's (limited) agency over their sexual bodies: Contesting contraceptive recommendations in Brazil
Editor(s)
Tag(s) EMCA, Medical EMCA, Patient Resistance, Patient Acceptance, Sexual and Reproductive Rights, Contraception, Women's Health, Doctor-patient interaction, Brazil
Publisher
Year 2021
Language English
City
Month
Journal Social Science & Medicine
Volume 290
Number
Pages
URL Link
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114276
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

Unintended pregnancies constitute a serious public health concern in Brazil, representing up to 55% of all pregnancies, and are prevalent among women with low income and low educational backgrounds. Lack of assistance to women in their decision-making has hindered the adoption of more effective contraceptive models. Although clinical consultations constitute an important locus to assist women in decision-making and to facilitate access to subsidized methods, our current knowledge of how contraception is discussed and decisions are reached in actual consultations is limited. Just as scarce is our knowledge of how patients respond and resist contraception recommendations and how physicians counter or accommodate patients. Using a corpus of 103 audio-recorded medical visits and conversation analytic (CA) methods, this paper examines recommendation sequences in the under-investigated gynecological consultations in the Brazilian public healthcare system (SUS). The quantitative analysis reveals a strong orientation to physicians as having primary rights to govern the oversight of women's bodies: 94% of the recommendations are delivered as pronouncements (e.g., “You'll take X″), the most authoritative action type. Patients largely assume an agreeable and passive role (66%), leading to scarce negotiation and minimal involvement in decision-making. However, in a few cases (12%), all involving contraception, patients become overtly agentive, responding with active resistance. A qualitative analysis of that subset shows that despite women's gaining some agency over their sexual bodies, that agency is still limited. Whereas physicians accommodate patient resistance on grounds of biomedically-related side-effects and incorrect assumptions about the women's lives, they overlook patient resistance based on gendered struggles over contraceptive methods in the domestic sphere. By failing to consider women's lack of agency in choosing whether to have sex or to use condoms, doctors show unawareness of significant consequences of the recommended method, which might include domestic dispute and violence and, paradoxically, ultimately misfire, leading to unwanted pregnancy.

Notes