Contextualizing adherence
Iron supplementation treatment among Peruvian caretakers and their anemic children
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2289321 |
|---|---|
| Authors | A F Dorsey (0000-0001-8860-0307, Department of Anthropology University of Massachusetts Amherst Massachusetts USA, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Pages | e70014-e70014 |
| Publication date | 2025-07-07 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Medical Anthropology Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0745-5194 • E-ISSN: 1548-1387 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/maq.70014 |
| PMID | 40622775 |
| OpenAlex | W4412084417 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 41 |
This article describes an ethnographic study of adherence to iron supplementation protocols in 50 anemic preschoolers and their caregivers living in a peri-urban district in Lima, Peru. I use aspects of the syndemic approach to highlight the challenges caregivers face in following the recommended treatment and burden of treatment theory to develop a deeper understanding of adherence in a community with persistent childhood anemia. Interpreting adherence as an ideology also helps illuminate how health professionals' claims about patient behavior reflect social inequalities. Thematic analysis of qualitative data identified three major challenges to iron supplementation adherence-time constraints, acute health concerns, and child agency. These themes show how socioeconomic conditions and emotional burdens impact caregivers' ability to follow the prescribed treatment. Despite these challenges, the relatively high rate of adherence contests assumptions that lack of adherence is the primary explanation for persistent anemia rates among preschoolers living in this community
Anemia · Developmental psychology · Environmental health · Population · Psychiatry · Public health · Qualitative research · Socioeconomic status · Sociology · Syndemic · Thematic analysis · Child Nutrition and Water Access · Hemoglobinopathies and Related Disorders · Iron Metabolism and Disorders · Medicine · Nursing · Psychology · Gerontology
Non-communicable disease syndemics
Rethinking the patient
Syndemics and the biosocial conception of health
Anaemia in low-income and middle-income countries
Localizing transitional justice
A community-based cluster randomized survey of noncommunicable disease and risk factors in a peri-urban shantytown in Lima, Peru
Burden of treatment for chronic illness
Intestinal microbiota composition and efficacy of iron supplementation in Peruvian children
“It is Not Easy Living with This Illness”
Child, caretaker, and community
Patterns of compliance with prenatal iron supplementation among Peruvian women
Community Environmental Health Assessment in Peru's Desert Hills and Rainforest
Localizing syndemics
Medical compliance as an ideology
Food, Gender and Poverty in the Ecuadorian Andes
Peruvian Street Lives
Beyond Comorbidity
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |