Thinking with care infrastructures: people, devices and the home in home blood pressure monitoring

Sociology of Health & Illness
Kate Weiner, Catherine Will

Abstract

The growing consumer market in health monitoring devices means that technologies that were once the preserve of the clinic are moving into spaces such as homes and workplaces. We consider how one such device, blood pressure monitors, comes to be integrated into everyday life. We pursue the concept of 'care infrastructure', drawing on recent scholarship in STS and medical sociology, to illuminate the work and range of people, things and spaces involved in self-monitoring. Drawing on a UK study involving observations and interviews with 31 people who have used a consumer blood pressure monitor, we apply the concept beyond chronic illness, to practices involving consumer devices - and develop a critical account of its value. We conclude that the care infrastructure concept is useful to highlight the socio-material arrangements involved in self-monitoring, showing that even for ostensibly personal devices, monitoring may be a shared practice that expresses care for self and for others. The concept also helps draw attention to links between different objects and spaces that are integral to the practice, beyond the device alone. Care infrastructure draws attention to the material, but ensures that analytic attention engages with both...Continue Reading

References

Aug 6, 2000·Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics·D Willems
Sep 23, 2003·Sociology of Health & Illness·Stefan Timmermans, Marc Berg
Oct 1, 2010·Social Science & Medicine·Christine MilliganMaggie Mort
Dec 18, 2010·Health & Place·Darrin HodgettsLinda Waimarie Nikora
Apr 24, 2012·The British Journal of General Practice : the Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners·Miren I JonesRichard J McManus
Jan 11, 2013·Sociology of Health & Illness·Henriette Langstrup
Jul 16, 2013·BMC Family Practice·Konstantina VasileiouTerry Young
May 2, 2015·Sociology of Health & Illness·Daryl MartinJulia Twigg
Jul 15, 2015·BioSocieties·Kate Weiner, Catherine Will

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Citations

Jun 9, 2020·Sociology of Health & Illness·Dara Ivanova
Jul 25, 2020·Journal of Medical Internet Research·Tariq Osman AndersenStine Lomborg
Dec 15, 2020·Health Expectations : an International Journal of Public Participation in Health Care and Health Policy·Tanvi RaiLisa Hinton
Jul 23, 2021·Sociology of Health & Illness·Dorthe Brogård KristensenSigne Banke
Aug 20, 2021·Social Science & Medicine·Nicola MackintoshNervo Verdezoto

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