Assessment on "Ethnographic Assessment and Intervention"

Assessment 5 pages (1330 words) Sources: 4

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Ethnographic Assessment and Intervention

The author in enlisted government quarters as permanent party at Recruit Command, Great Lakes Naval Base which is located in Waukeegan, IL. Although they have their own room, they share common areas such as kitchen and the bathroom facilities. Unfortunately, the climate and building environmental conditions do not help with the health issue that is exercised induced asthma. In the Spring, the author began for the first time to have respiratory breathing problems, including congestion and shortness of breath. To alleviate this condition, the Troop Medical Clinic has prescibed an Advair (disk), Albuteral (inhaler) and Fluticasone (nasal spray). The purpose of this essay will be to suggest an ethnographic solution based upon the discipline of medical anthropology to guide Reserve Command in recommendations to guide their actions following their most recent annual base housing health and welfare inspection.

Usually, the base command is directly involved mainly with boot camp recruits and permanent party who are housed in the barracks. However, recently spates of asthma and other environmentally affected health situations have forced the command to take a second look at base enlisted, NCO (non-commissioned officer) and officer's quarters due to liability reasons. In addition, it allows the command to isolate possible causes to the ailments that be mitigated due to changes in base housing environments and community mess facilities.

In this ethnographic study, this author will have to adapt the experiences of other military and government agencies such as the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and U.S. Department of Healt

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h and Human Services (HHS). However, some approaches will come straight from military know-how, including sanitation in base housing. For instance, dust mite and cock roach eradication is greatly aided by increased attention to sanitation in base barracks and housing. No doubt, this certainly something that the military does not lack experience in. Also, sailors and other personnel are more tolerant of government intervention in personnel affairs. In general, this is just another feature of military life. In other words, the military has more in the anthropological "tool kit" to work with in terms of intervention techniques and options than a civilian agency. In this case, the U.S. Navy has regulations that deal with the health and welfare inspection, especially where it dictates medically necessary action on behalf of military personnel in government quarters ("Secnavinst 5300.28d asn (m&ra)," 2005) .

First, we must look at the results of the inspection that identified asthma problems to begin with. Actually, the author was the culprit. On the base, June is a particularly difficult time for asthma sufferers on the base due to heightened pollen and dust levels due to plant growth and flower germination. Close to the enlisted apartment complex, there is a grove of cottonwood trees which give off airborne seedlings that contribute greately to the condition. In June of this year, the author began to suffer from their condition's symptoms and diagnosed with late manifestation induced asthma, something which not uncommonly occurs during a person's mid-twenties. To alleviate this, the medical regimen mentioned above was instituted. When the problem persisted, a check of the enlisted member's quarters was ordered to identify and mitigate contributing environmental factors. This is especially important for determining the origin of the disability, whether it is a manifestation of a preexisting condition or a service related injury. This will determine whether the service member will receive disability payments after they are released from active duty, are eligible for payment of disability from a state government or for no disability payments at all ("Veteran disability compensation," 2011). In addition, it is recommended that the command follow-up in one month with another health and welfare inspection in another month in order to work off the gigs" found in the previous month's inspection findings.

Oddly enough, this author has found that the intervention process bears some similarity to clinical interventions the Administration for Children and Families in a Comprehensive Family Assessment Process used by the U.S. Department of Health and Human… READ MORE

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Quoted Instructions for "Ethnographic Assessment and Intervention" Assignment:

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Project #2

Course Objectives: Project #2 will help students meet following course objectives: (1) Describe the history, scope, primary interests and research methods of medical anthropology; (2) Identify various theoretical approaches anthropologists have used to study health, illness, and the body; (3) Explain how culture influences health and healing practices, and views on disease, life and death, and (4) Describe how applied medical anthropology contributes to human wellness in the United States and globally.

Reading Material: *****"Understanding and Applying Medical Anthropology*****" by Peter J. Brown/Ron Barrett

In this project, students will conduct a rapid ethnographic assessment of the *****production of health***** in the student*****s own household and create a health/wellness-related intervention that addresses some issue uncovered in the ethnographic assessment. This part of the project is not *****for real***** (unless you want it to be) and it can be as creative as you like. For example, if someone in your household suffers from chronic pain, from your reading about how people from different cultural worlds cope with chronic pain, you might design an intervention that incorporates heat and ice, pain medications, acupuncture, meditation, psychotherapy, and shamanic healing.

The project must include: (Again, only include information you*****re comfortable discussing)

- an inventory of health/illness related products in the household (e.g., prescription medications, over the counter medications, medical devices, any foods or supplements eaten for health reasons, books, etc. ï¿½ï¿½*****" anything you consider *****health or illness related*****).

- a record of health-seeking behavior exhibited by household members

- descriptions of at least one illness episode occurring in the household currently or during the previous six months, including information about the decisions that were made, who made the decisions, etc.

- explanatory models of any illness episodes or chronic illnesses (See Kleinman)

- a record of health/illness-related conversations with others

- a list of resources that have an impact on your household*****s heath/illness-related ideas and behaviors and household health status (e.g., time, health insurance, social support)

- features of your community, state, national, and global environments that you think have an impact on your household*****s heath/illness-related ideas and behaviors and household health status (e.g., national health insurance, industrial pollution, infectious agents).

- an intervention that addresses at least one issue you identified in your ethnographic assessment.

- ideas about the body, the person, health, illness, treatment, etc. that underlie your intervention

- features of the social, political, and economic environment and available resources that will either support or impede implementing your intervention

- possible unintended consequences (either positive or negative) of your intervention

- a plan for evaluating your intervention. How will you know if it is successful (including your definition of *****"success*****")

Students must also explain the ideas (theories) about the body, wellness, illness, healing, and illness that underlie the intervention(s) they have chosen and the features of the physical, political, social, and economic environment that will either facilitate or impede the implementation of the intervention (e.g., health insurance does not cover psychotherapy, the physical labor required by the person*****s job is the source of the pain, or (happily) a shaman lives next door and refuses payment for his services!).

Additionally, try to anticipate any unintended effects (either positive or negative) from this intervention and discuss how you will determine if the intervention is effective (evaluation).

You can use a list format for this project. In other words, simply go down the list of required components and complete each one. Please include a heading for each component. Here*****'s an example:

1. Household Inventory of Health/Illness-related Objects

a. Vitamins

b. Toothbrush

2. Health-seeking Behaviors in the Household

a. Exercised at gym

b. Made doctor*****'s appointment

and so on....

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