oai:uvadis:3284722011-10-01T11:54:21ZPUB

Coping with cancer and adversity: Hospital ethnography in Kenyahttp://dare.uva.nl/record/3284722010-03-02Mulemi, B.A.Geest, J.D.M. van derMany people associate hospital treatment with 'getting better', the restoration to health and normal life. The onset of a lifethreatening disease such as cancer, however, can transform the hospital into a place of constant struggle and suffering. Hospitalisation in this sense coincides with the deterioration of patients' and their families' overall wellbeing. Drawing on twelve months of ethnographic research in a cancer ward in Kenya, this monograph shows that patients' suffering should be viewed within the context of a wider spectrum of adversity. The book demonstrates the ambiguity of a hospital stay and treatment, showing how a hospital can both alleviate as well as increase human suffering. The author advocates patient-centred hospital ethnography as a way to improve the understanding of cancer patients' needs, both medical and nonmedical, as they struggle to restore their wellbeing.enAfrican Studies CentreDoctoral thesisimage/jpegapplication/pdfIt is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the copyright holder (usually the author), other then for strictly personal, individual use.http://dare.uva.nl/cgi/arno/oai/uvadisoai:uvadis:3284722010-03-10T00:00:00Zhttp://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/