Investigators from University of Colorado Report New Data on Hospice Care (Political economy of hope as a cultural facet of biomedicalization: A…

Investigators from University of Colorado Report New Data on Hospice Care (Political economy of hope as a cultural facet of biomedicalization: A qualitative examination of constraints to hospice utilization among US end-stage cancer patients)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Obesity, Fitness & Wellness Week -- Data detailed on Terminal Care - Hospice Care have been presented. According to news originating from Denver, Colorado, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, "A growing body of social science literature is devoted to describing processes of biomedicalization. The issue of biomedicalization is especially relevant for individuals suffering from end-stage cancer and hoping that aggressive end-of-life interventions, which are riddled with uncertainty around quantity or quality of life, will produce a 'cure."

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the University of Colorado, "To examine hospice underutilization among end-stage cancer patients, we apply the anthropological concept 'political economy of hope,' which describes how personal and collective 'hope' is associated with the political and economic structures that produce biomedicalization processes. Previous studies have examined hospice underutilization among end-stage cancer patients and have identified barriers stemming from patient and physician characteristics or health insurance reimbursement policies. Yet, these studies do not provide an organized synthesis of how barriers articulate, how they are part of the longitudinal decision-making process, or describe the sociocultural context surrounding hospice care enrollment decisions. This paper focuses on US-specific mechanisms and is based on qualitative, in-depth, interviews with physicians at an academic hospital (N = 24). We find that hospice underutilization results from a web of interconnected constraints surrounding end-stage cancer patients."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "Our research reveals how hospice care contradicts the political and economic structures associated with end-stage cancer care and illustrates how end-stage cancer patients are transformed into a form of biovalue, a fundamental commodity sustaining the political economy of hope."

For more information on this research see: Political economy of hope as a cultural facet of biomedicalization: A qualitative examination of constraints to hospice utilization among US end-stage cancer patients. Social Science & Medicine, 2018;200():107-113. Social Science & Medicine can be contacted at: Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd, The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, England. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Social Science & Medicine - www.journals.elsevier.com/social-science-and-medicine/)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from E.H. Mrig, University of Colorado, Denver, CO 80202, United States (see also Terminal Care - Hospice Care).

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.01.033. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Keywords for this news article include: Denver, Colorado, United States, North and Central America, Health and Medicine, Terminal Care, Hospice Care, Politics, Oncology, Cancer, University of Colorado.

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