An anthropological study on the sensory experience of palliative care

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24520930
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Cultural anthropology/Folklore
• Research Institution: Kawasaki University of Medical Welfare
• Principal Investigator: Iida Junko 川崎医療福祉大学, 医療福祉学部, 教授 (00368739)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): IKEDA Mitsuho 大阪大学, コミュニケーションデザイン・センター, 教授 (40211718) ; MATSUOKA Hideaki 大阪大学, コミュニケーションデザイン・センター, 招聘教授 (80364892)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 緩和ケア / 感覚的経験 / 人類学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study explored the sensory experience of the patients and their families receiving palliative care and of the care providers, based on the fieldwork at a palliative care ward in a hospital in Tokyo and at a clinic and its surrounding area in Okayama. It suggested that the dignity maintenance of those who receive palliative care was deeply related to their sensory experience, which was situated in their social and cultural contexts. It also demonstrated how various actors try to craft the environment and circumstances of care in different ways so as to stimulate divergent aspects of the senses of patients and their families.

Free Research Field

文化人類学