Situated technology in reproductive health care: Do we need a new theory of the subject to promote person‐centred care?

Abstract

Going through reproductive experiences (especially pregnancy and childbirth) in contemporary Western societies almost inevitably involves interaction with medical practitioners and various medical technologies in institutional context. This has important consequences for women as embodied subjects. A critical appraisal of these consequences-coming dominantly from feminist scholarship-relied on a problematic theory of both technology and the subject, which are in contemporary approaches no longer considered as given, coherent and well individualized wholes, but as complex constellations that are locally situated and that can only be described empirically. In this study, we will be relying on the developments in phenomenological theory to reconceptualize women as technologically mediated embodied subjects and on the new paradigms in philosophy of technology and STS to reconstruct medical technology as situated-with the aim of reconceptualizing their relationship and exploring different possibilities for the mediating role of medical technology. It will be argued that technologization of female reproductive processes and alienating consequences for women are not necessary or directly interrelated. The role of technology varies from case to case and depends mainly on the nontechnological and relational aspects of institutional context, in which medical practitioners play a decisive role.

Pflege und Technik

“…. Dem folgend stellen nicht die Techniken ein Problem dar, sondern die die Art und Weise ihrer Nutzung bestimmt deren Auswirkungen (Barnard & Sandelowski, 2001, p. 373), die jeweils im Einzelfall zu betrachten sind (Biljana, 2017).…”

Somebodies or nobody’s patient: The importance of social positioning and informal relations during childbirth in Serbia

“…Са друге стране, у протеклој деценији социолошка и психолошка истраживања порођаја почињу да попуњавају празнину у литератури (Drezgić 2008;Arsenijevic, Pavlova & Groot 2014;Matejić et al 2014;Sekulić 2016;Stanković 2014Stanković , 2017bStanković, Skočajić & Đorđević 2017). Знање о друштвеним аспектима порођаја у Србији се проширује пре свега захваљујући истраживањима Наде Секулић и Биљане Станковић (Sekulić 2016;Stanković 2014Stanković , 2017aStanković , 2017bStanković, Skočajić & Đorđević 2017) које јасно указују на постојање и последице технократског модела рађања у Србији. Кључне одлике овог модела у Србији описао је још 1996. године гинеколог Вук Стамболовић (Stambolović 1996) и то су: рутинско клистирање, бријање, активно вођење порођаја које подразумева индукцију, ручну дилатацију и прокидање водењака и рутинска епизиотомија.…”