Redfern, L; (2024) Making Menopause: An Ethnography Inside and Outside of the Clinic. PhD thesis, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17037/PUBS.04673560
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Abstract
In recent years, the UK has seen an unprecedented rise in public interest and awareness surrounding the topic of menopause. Occupying a fraught and often contradictory landscape, discussions of menopause have moved beyond the clinical context and increasingly can be seen to have become embedded in political, educational, and economic domains as well. As the boundaries of what constitutes menopause care become increasingly blurred, important questions are raised regarding the meaning of menopause in contemporary culture. This ethnographic study describes the navigation of menopausal treatment and care in a private UK based menopause clinic and beyond, exploring how the category of menopause is constructed through temporally and culturally specific practices. Accounts of the daily routines of health care professionals interacting with patients highlight the complex cultural issues that arise, particularly in relation to the use of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), including the use of testosterone. Research moves beyond the clinic in order to focus on what happens when conventional medical narratives about menopause and hormones stop ‘making sense’, while descriptions of the role of mainstream media and influence of social network platforms spotlights the role key individuals have in shaping contemporary menopausal discourse. Overall, this original research foregrounds the ways in which long-standing gendered ideologies influence both patient and professional perceptions and expectations of menopausal care and treatment, questioning the extent to which the current drive to put menopause centre stage truly is a force for change
Item Type | Thesis |
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Thesis Type | Doctoral |
Thesis Name | PhD |
Contributors | Cohn, S |
Faculty and Department | Faculty of Public Health and Policy > Dept of Health Services Research and Policy |
Funder Name | Economic and Social Research Council |
Copyright Holders | Lauren Redfern |
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Filename: 2024_PHP_PhD_Redfern_L (4) (1).pdf
Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0
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