Experiences of Latinos with Diabetes in the Central San Joaquin Valley Page: 16
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individual; whereas illness represents personal, interpersonal, and cultural reactions to disease or
discomfort" (1978, 252).
The construction of illness is the earliest function of the healing process. Construction
begins with the placement of symptoms into categories based on perceptions and expressions
that are individual and social responses. Kleinman (1978) also delineates between illness and
disease, a dichotomous element studied in medical anthropology, disease refers to a
malfunctioning of biological and/or psychological processes where illness is viewed as a
psychosocial experience and meaning of perceived disease.
Patient perspectives remain an important research topic in medical anthropology.
Mendenhall et. al (2010) examine the "idioms of distress" narrated by Mexican Americans as
they sought diabetes care at a public Chicago hospital. What was discovered were the
manifestations of social/psychological/emotional/structural violence representing the distress and
collective "explanatory models" for the onset of diabetes. This article further demonstrates the
need for lines of communication to be opened between medical and clinical staff with patients
regarding illness. Voiced through the narratives of the participants is the need to not only aid
diabetes management through clinical avenues (medications, nutrition counseling, etc.); there
also exists a need to provide social and mental health services to low-income, underserved
populations to supplement clinical management therapies.
Incorporating diabetes narratives and experiences into chronicity discourse as an idiom of
distress enables patients and health researchers the ability to pursue further states of being than
are currently explored. A new level of understanding can be obtained by contextualizing diabetes
as an idiom of distress providing patients an outlet for communicating social frustration and
distress while also validating these stressors in the medical literature associated with diagnosis.16
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Cortez, Jacqueline Nicole. Experiences of Latinos with Diabetes in the Central San Joaquin Valley, thesis, May 2018; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1157605/m1/23/?q=green+energy&rotate=270: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .