Knowledge matters : producing and using knowledge to navigate healthcare systems. / Willis, Karen; Collyer, Fran; Lewis, Sophie; Gabe, Jonathan; Flaherty, Ian; Calnan, Michael.
In: Health Sociology Review, Vol. 25, No. 2, 20.04.2016, p. 202-216.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
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Knowledge matters : producing and using knowledge to navigate healthcare systems. / Willis, Karen; Collyer, Fran; Lewis, Sophie; Gabe, Jonathan; Flaherty, Ian; Calnan, Michael.
In: Health Sociology Review, Vol. 25, No. 2, 20.04.2016, p. 202-216.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Knowledge matters
T2 - producing and using knowledge to navigate healthcare systems
AU - Willis, Karen
AU - Collyer, Fran
AU - Lewis, Sophie
AU - Gabe, Jonathan
AU - Flaherty, Ian
AU - Calnan, Michael
PY - 2016/4/20
Y1 - 2016/4/20
N2 - In many contemporary healthcare systems, individuals are expected to be rational actors – weighing up available knowledge and making choices about their healthcare needs. In the policy context this has been most explicitly applied to the financing of healthcare where there is encouragement for the purchase of private health insurance. However, perceptions of public and private healthcare provision, knowledge about healthcare needs, and the types of services people choose, are far from straightforward. Drawing on Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, field and capital, and a study of individual experiences of choice in Australian healthcare, we explore the knowledges used by people as they navigate through the healthcare system. Such navigation takes place in a milieu where authoritative medical knowledge intersects with knowledge from other sources, including the Internet and lived experience. However, our study reveals that navigation of healthcare is assisted most of all by the capacity to draw on ‘system knowledge’. System knowledge takes two, sometimes overlapping, forms. First, acquired system knowledge is produced through drawing on experience, formal knowledge and the capacity to undertake research (primarily cultural capital). Second, assumed system knowledge enables navigation of the healthcare system through accessing and utilising networks of privilege (primarily economic and social capital).
AB - In many contemporary healthcare systems, individuals are expected to be rational actors – weighing up available knowledge and making choices about their healthcare needs. In the policy context this has been most explicitly applied to the financing of healthcare where there is encouragement for the purchase of private health insurance. However, perceptions of public and private healthcare provision, knowledge about healthcare needs, and the types of services people choose, are far from straightforward. Drawing on Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, field and capital, and a study of individual experiences of choice in Australian healthcare, we explore the knowledges used by people as they navigate through the healthcare system. Such navigation takes place in a milieu where authoritative medical knowledge intersects with knowledge from other sources, including the Internet and lived experience. However, our study reveals that navigation of healthcare is assisted most of all by the capacity to draw on ‘system knowledge’. System knowledge takes two, sometimes overlapping, forms. First, acquired system knowledge is produced through drawing on experience, formal knowledge and the capacity to undertake research (primarily cultural capital). Second, assumed system knowledge enables navigation of the healthcare system through accessing and utilising networks of privilege (primarily economic and social capital).
KW - choice
KW - healthcare
KW - knowledge
KW - health systems
KW - Bourdieu
U2 - 10.1080/14461242.2016.1170624
DO - 10.1080/14461242.2016.1170624
M3 - Article
VL - 25
SP - 202
EP - 216
JO - Health Sociology Review
JF - Health Sociology Review
SN - 1446-1242
IS - 2
ER -