Use this url to cite publication: https://hdl.handle.net/007/12986
Options
Nuo senatvÄ—s medikalizacijos link senatvÄ—s biomedikalizacijos?
Type of publication
Straipsnis kitoje duomenĹł bazÄ—je / Article in other database (S4)
Type of publication (old)
S3
Author(s)
Jankūnaitė, Dovilė |
Title
Nuo senatvÄ—s medikalizacijos link senatvÄ—s biomedikalizacijos?
Other Title
From medicalization of old age to biomedicalization of old age?
Date Issued
2014
Is part of
Socialinis darbas, 2014, Nr. 13(2)
Field of Science
Abstract
In scientific literature, two concepts are used – medicalization and biomedicalization. There rises a question which of these concepts and when they should be used when old age is analyzed? Term medicalization is quite familiar and for many decades has been used in sociological and biomedical discourses. Conrad (2007, p. 4) defines medicalization as a “process by which nonmedical problems become defined and treated as medical problems, usually in terms of illness and disorders”. The first research examined medicalization of deviance: alcoholism, substance abuse, mental disability, etc. However, scientists identified that more and more humans conditions which have been considered as normal or natural became medicalized, and old age is one example of such alteration. The medicalization of old age manifests in various ways. First of all, old age itself and ageing process are defined as medical condition which should be treated (Estes and Binney, 1987; Weitz, 2010, Kaufman et al., 2004). Medicalization of old age manifests in attempts to control and to treat natural processes which take place in aging body: hormonal imbalances, flabby skin, boldness, graying hair, erectile dysfunction, etc. (Conrad, 2007; Marshall, 2007; Watkins, 2008). Physicians, pharmacists and ageing people themselves actively try to find cure or be cured from ageing “disease”; a wide spectrum of preparations, supplements, cosmetics and drugs are offered in purpose to do so. Scientists (Clarke et al., 2003; Joyce and Mamo, 2006; Maturo, 2012; Bell and Figert, 2010) noticed changes which have emerged in health care sector firstly in Western countries since the end of last century and argued that medicalization concept and medicalization theoretical framework is not adequate to explain all of these changes. Thus, a new concept was introduced. Adele Clarke and her colleagues (2003) suggested term biomedicalization which supposes to encompass and explain these shifts. Biomedicalization is defined as “increasingly complex, multisited, multidirectional processes of medicalization, both extended and reconstituted through the new social forms of highly technoscientific biomedicine” (Clarke et al., 2003, p. 161). The main role in biomedicalization process is performed by technoscientific innovations, such as biotechnologies, genetic engineering, the newest medical innovations and interventions, molecular biology, etc. Biomedicalization of old age refers to radical and even drastic health care sector specialists’ intervention into ageing process with the purpose to control and manipulate of ageing process: stop, slow or even eliminate it from human life time.
Mokslinėje literatūroje vartojamos dvi iš pirmo žvilgsnio panašios sąvokos – medikalizacija ir biomedikalizacija. Kyla klausimai, ką reiškia kiekviena šių sąvokų? Kur yra kiekvienos jų vartojimo ribos? Kurią sąvoką tikslinga pasirinkti analizuojant senėjimo procesą? Medikalizacijos sąvoka yra geriau žinoma bei plačiai vartojama tiek sociologiniame, tiek biomedicininiame diskursuose. Įprastai šia sąvoka apibrėžiamas „procesas, kurio metu nemedicininio pobūdžio problemos apibūdinamos ligos ar sutrikimo terminais bei joms imamas taikyti medicininis gydymas“ (Conrad, 2007, p. 4). Mokslininkai atkreipė dėmesį į reikšmingus sveikatos priežiūros srityje praeito amžiaus paskutiniais dešimtmečiais, visų pirma Vakarų šalyse, įvykusius pokyčius (Clarke ir kt.,2003; Joyce, Mamo, 2006; Bell, Figert, 2010 ir kt.). Clarke ir jos kolegių (2003) teigimu, šie pokyčiai buvo tokie radikalūs, kad medikalizacijos teorinė apibrėžtis jų jau nebeaprėpia. Autorės 2003 metais pristatė biomedikalizacijos terminą kaip tinkamesnį bei išsamiau paaiškinantį XXI a. sveikatos priežiūros srityje vykstančius procesus. Šiame straipsnyje analizuojamos senatvės medikalizacijos bei senatvės biomedikalizacijos sąvokų sampratos, aptariami medikalizacijos bei biomedikalizacijos procesai ir juose veikiantys subjektai, taip pat nagrinėjami pagrindiniai sveikatos priežiūros srityje įvykę ir šią transformaciją nulėmę pokyčiai.
Type of document
type::text::journal::journal article::research article
Other Identifier(s)
000018664
000018664
Language
LietuviĹł / Lithuanian (lt)
Access Rights
Atviroji prieiga / Open Access