title: The medical model and other constructions of self-neglect.
abstract: Nurses frequently encounter patients who neglect their personal hygiene and household cleanliness. Self-neglect is usually understood within the parameters of the medical model, with its need to objectify and categorize. The medicalization of self-neglect obscures the fact that patients and professionals may have different ideas about what self-neglect is and what it is not. This paper explores how the medical construction of self-neglect has come to dominate the self-neglect discourse and will also explore other possible ways of understanding self-neglect.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Stirling, Inverness, United Kingdom. william.lauder@stir.ac.uk
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lauder
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D006920:Hygiene; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D011287:Prejudice; D012648:Self Care / Q000523:psychology*; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D012660:Semantics; D013561:Symbolism; D013577:Syndrome