LIFESTYLE DISEASES AND WOMEN: A SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY OF JAMMU

Abstract

Lifestyle related diseases often referred to as Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) which are chronic in nature. For the purpose of this study, term ‘lifestyle disease’ has been selected as this study centers around the behavioural practices of the respondents who have been interviewed. Main objectives which are dealt with in the study are to analyzing the social impact of lifestyle diseases on the lives of the respondents, to study their role as a family caretaker and as a care provider of the family, role of environmental factors and health seeking behavior of the respondents. Mixed method technique has been employed, in which qualitative data, collected by interviewing female patients suffering from PCOS, T2DM (Type2 Diabetes Mellitus) and CVDs, is tabulated to gain in-depth understanding of the experiences and approach of the respondents towards these diseases. Study intends to apply theoretical framework of the sick role, social constructivism and stigma to examine these diseases. Stigmatising nature of PCOS respondents to abstain from discussing about it openly even with their family members. It is because of not being ‘female’ enough that women get subjected to stigma in the society, which reaffirms their feeling of being incomplete. Knowledge construction and health seeking behaviour was also found to be taking place at familial level where onset of symptoms in one member made other member to timely opt for doctoral consultation. Conversations and exchange of knowledge by discussing personal experiences acted as main source of knowledge construction and dissemination in case of different manifestations of PCOS (oligomenorrhea, infertility etc.). However, absence of one single term to define their state was also a cause of distress which requires some special efforts to educate and disseminate biomedical information about the onset and management of PCOS. It can finally be argued that challenges posed by PCOS are more social in nature than physical. Diabetic patients said that there was nothing much to worry about it as diabetes was all about abstaining from one’s favourite food or experiencing excessive urination or parching of mouth. Sick role acquisition in the case of diabetic women was very poor, and that was mainly due to the meaning which they and their family members provided to it. Their lived experiences generated a common discourse which postulated that diabetes does not need any special care or attention. However, such meanings keep on changing with the change in the experience and future consequences of the disease. In the case of women who are the primary caretaker of the family, process of this change of meaning is even slower as they keep on prioritising need of iii their family over their own health. It is due to this reason that they tend to act what Parsons (1975) called ‘Hyperchondriac.’ The semantics generated during the course of doctor-patient discussions had a strong impression on the knowledge production related to diabetes and its management. This shows that discourse leads to knowledge production, and provides patients and their fiduciary with the power to choose their own course of treatment. This meaning may or may not be in line with the medically approved method of diabetes care. Study of women suffering from CVDs was analysed majorly by employing Foucauldian concept of ‘Technologies of Self’, in which he emphasises on the role of lifestyle factors in the management of a disease. However, before opting for these technologies, women look upon themselves as socially undesirable. It is only due to the meaning which these women have given to themselves, they follow all the instructions given by their doctor diligently so that they could make themselves socially desirable and get rid of the image of being a burden for the family. Role of fiduciaries was also found to be very crucial in the management of the lifestyle of a CVD patient in general and women in particular. Fiduciaries, whether they are family, friends, doctors or relatives, create an institutional pressure on the patient to acquire sick role. Many respondents in the study admitted opting for workout or to eat as per their health requirement, only after certain kind of familial pressure. This is how social institutions act as agents of social control in the field of health by recognising undesirability of an ill state and then by motivating ill persons to work towards regaining or managing their health. In the end, it can be argued that management of lifestyle diseases is more of a social compulsion than being a physiological need for these women. Age of the onset of lifestyle diseases has a major role to play in determining social impact of the disease. If an adolescent or a young woman gets affected by any such kind of disease, it becomes a stigma for her. Another determinant of a lifestyle disease and patients’ (or of their fiduciaries’) approach towards it, gets reflected in the way it is being represented in everyday discourse.