Medical Anthropology Research Center - URV

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"Healthy Ageing: A Scoping Review of the Social Determinants of Diet, Food and Nutrition in Spain" per Mabel Gracia-Arnaiz, Isabella Riccò, Claudia María Anleu-Hernández, Noemí Rodríguez-Kuhanen i Blu Clos-Cirici (2026)

Resum (EN):
Spain’s rapidly ageing population poses significant public health challenges, particularly regarding nutrition and healthy ageing. This scoping literature review is grounded in the social determinants of health (SDOH) framework and aims to examine how key social, relational, and structural factors shape food practices and nutritional outcomes among older adults in Spain. Drawing from 22 peer-reviewed empirical studies published between 2014 and 2024, the review identifies a set of interrelated determinants influencing nutrition: social relationships, cultural beliefs, lifestyle behaviours, gender differences, and financial conditions. Rather than treating these factors as isolated variables, the analysis emphasises their interdependence within everyday contexts of ageing. Findings indicate that gender relations, social support networks, and household composition are closely associated with dietary practices and nutritional status. Cultural food beliefs and embodied knowledge also play a significant role in shaping dietary decisions, sometimes in tension with biomedical recommendations. While financial constraints are frequently cited as a determinant of nutritional vulnerability, the evidence remains heterogeneous and context-dependent, suggesting that economic explanations alone are insufficient. The review also identifies a persistent gap in qualitative and interdisciplinary research that engages with the lived experiences of older adults in Spain. In theoretical terms, this review advances understanding of nutritional inequality in later life by highlighting how structural conditions, social relations, and cultural meanings interact to shape food practices, moving beyond linear or single-factor explanations.

Accés a l'article: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12062-026-09578-0

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"Exploring Sociocultural and Gender Differences in the Use of Robot PARO Among Older Adults Living with or Without Dementia" amb Blanca Deusdad, Marija Djurdjevic y Fernando Vidal (2026)

Resum (EN):
As social robots like PARO are increasingly used in long-term care settings, understanding how human–robot interaction (HRI) is shaped by sociocultural context and gender becomes essential for their effective and ethical deployment. While companion robots have shown positive psychosocial effects, most HRI research has focused on usability and psychological outcomes, overlooking how interactions are influenced by culturally situated practices. This paper explores how older adults, both with and without dementia, engage with the therapeutic robot PARO in Spanish nursing homes, considering sociocultural background, gendered life trajectories, and cognitive status. Using qualitative data from participant observation, interviews with care professionals, and focus groups in eight rural and urban care facilities, the study conceptualises HRI as a relational and negotiated process rather than a uniform user response. Findings reveal that interactions with PARO are shaped by culturally specific interpretive frames—such as animal symbolism in rural areas and technological curiosity in urban contexts—and gendered caregiving practices developed over the life course. Women, particularly those with dementia, often engaged with PARO through nurturing and affective behaviors, while men’s interactions were more ambivalent, involving humor, familiarity with animals, or curiosity about the robot’s technical features. Care professionals played a crucial role in mediating HRI, influencing interactional norms, ethical boundaries, and collective activities. This study highlights the sociocultural and gendered dimensions of HRI, contributing to the field by underscoring the importance of embedding companion robots within users’ lived social worlds, with implications for the design and responsible implementation of emotional robots in eldercare.

Accés a l'article: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-30421-6_2

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"Presencia de glifosato en alimentos distribuidos a través de programas sociales destinados a poblaciones vulnerables en Perú y Uruguay" per Susana Ramírez Hita y Claudio Martínez Debat (2026)

Resumen:
En un contexto de creciente preocupación por la inocuidad alimentaria y la ausencia de mecanismos específicos de monitoreo de residuos de pesticidas en programas alimentarios, este artículo analiza la presencia de glifosato en alimentos distribuidos por los programas sociales Qali Warma, en la región Amazonas (Perú), y Canasta de Emergencia Alimentaria, en Maldonado (Uruguay), examinando además los mecanismos institucionales de control sanitario y sus implicancias para la seguridad alimentaria de poblaciones vulnerables. La investigación se desarrolló como un estudio exploratorio orientado a detectar y cuantificar residuos de glifosato en alimentos distribuidos por programas sociales de alimentación en ambos países, complementado con análisis documental de políticas alimentarias y normativas sobre inocuidad alimentaria. Se analizaron dieciséis muestras recolectadas entre junio de 2023 y febrero de 2024 en localidades de Condorcanqui (Perú) y Maldonado (Uruguay), mediante el método Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay (ELISA). Los resultados evidenciaron presencia de glifosato en tres de cuatro muestras analizadas correspondientes al programa Qali Warma y en ocho de doce muestras asociadas al programa uruguayo, registrándose en algunos casos concentraciones superiores a los límites máximos de residuos establecidos por el Codex Alimentarius. Los hallazgos muestran la necesidad de fortalecer los mecanismos de monitoreo y control de residuos de pesticidas en programas de asistencia alimentaria. Asimismo, sugieren la conveniencia de profundizar investigaciones sobre las posibles implicancias de estos residuos para la seguridad alimentaria y la salud de las poblaciones beneficiarias.

Acceso al articulo: https://revistas.unla.edu.ar/saludcolectiva/article/view/6101

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"Beyond formal managerial hierarchy: Reimagining HRM in self-managing organisations" per Claudia Díaz-Leyva y Rosalía Cascón-Pereira (2026)

Resum (EN):
Self-managing organisations (SMOs) radically decentralise formal authority, fundamentally challenging traditional models of Human Resource Management (HRM). Drawing on a systematic literature review of 75 articles and adopting a Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) lens, this paper examines how HRM is enacted in the absence of formal managerial hierarchy. We analyse the reconfiguration of HRM actors, roles, and practices, revealing that people management in SMOs emerges through ongoing interactions rather than formal mandates. Specifically, HRM operates as a human-centred, relational, and adaptive ecosystem. As formal managerial hierarchies disappear, employees and teams become the primary HRM actors, replacing hierarchical control with caring practices and peer-based governance. Furthermore, we identify key contingencies and inherent tensions that challenge the long-term sustainability of these HRM ecosystems. By challenging four foundational HRM assumptions, we highlight both the potential and the paradoxical nature of self-managing practices. Ultimately, these insights advance theoretical understanding of the nexus between organisational design and people management, offering critical implications for HRM research and the future of the HR profession.

Accés a l'article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053482226000343

🏥💬 Los días 25 y 26 de junio, el Campus Cataluña se convirtió en un espacio de reflexión interdisciplinar sobre cómo las culturas asistenciales influyen en la equidad y la justicia social en salud.

El X Coloquio Internacional del MARC puso sobre la mesa la importancia de transformar desde dentro los sistemas sanitarios, buscando la participación, la humanización de los cuidados y el valor de la diversidad cultural.

Muchas gracias a todos por hacerlo posible!!

III Congreso Internacional de Antropología Feminista
📍Universitat Universidad Rovira i Virgili
🗓️ 1, 2 3 de juliol de 2026
👤 Manuel d’Hers del Pozo (Universitat Rovira i Virgili) , Ana Lucía Hernández Cordero (Universidad de Zaragoza), Isabella Riccò (Universitat Rovira i Virgili, MARC), Mar Dieste Campo (Universidad de Zaragoza)

"Desinstitucionalización del cuidado en la vejez: tensiones de género en iniciativas habitacionales comunitarias en Aragón"

Esta comunicación presenta resultados preliminares del proyecto ALTERCARE, que analiza alternativas residenciales para personas mayores que van más allá del modelo binario entre el hogar y la residencia. Desde las antropologías feministas del cuidado, se examinan las tensiones de género presentes en algunas iniciativas de desfamiliarización y desinstitucionalización. El estudio, de carácter cualitativo, se ha llevado a cabo en Aragón mediante un mapeo y trabajo de campo en tres casos.
Los resultados muestran la persistente feminización del cuidado, con un papel protagonista de las mujeres, incluidas las migrantes. Aunque algunas propuestas impulsan cambios, muchas reproducen las desigualdades de género: los hombres se benefician más de los apoyos comunitarios, mientras que las mujeres asumen los cuidados y optan por mudarse para no ser una carga para sus familias.

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"From policy to practice: An anthropological analysis of implementing community-based healthcare reform in Catalonia" per Marija Djurdjevic i Francisco Ortega (2026)

Resum (EN):
Many European health systems have promoted community-based and integrated care reforms, although reform trajectories and implementation priorities remain uneven across contexts. Translating these policy ambitions into routine practice therefore remains a significant challenge. This study examines how organisational, cultural, and structural dynamics shape the implementation of community-based healthcare reform in Catalonia, Spain.
Drawing on multi-sited ethnographic research conducted in Catalonia between 2022 and 2024, the study combines 41 semi-structured interviews, two focus groups, ethnographic observation, and document analysis across primary care, municipal, and regional health settings. Data were analysed through iterative thematic and interpretive analysis informed by implementation anthropology and critical implementation science.
The findings identify four interrelated domains shaping implementation: hierarchical governance and constrained local agency; uneven professional recognition and evaluation frameworks; fragmented systemic vision and leadership gaps; and structural constraints generating competing priorities.
Building on these findings, the study proposes an Anthropological Implementation Barriers Framework that conceptualises implementation challenges as relational and systemic processes rather than isolated obstacles. The framework highlights how governance arrangements, professional hierarchies, valuation regimes, and material conditions interact to shape reform trajectories.
The study contributes to ongoing dialogue between implementation science, Health Policy and Systems Research (HPSR), and anthropology by demonstrating how ethnographic approaches can illuminate the dynamics of health system change. In doing so, it highlights the value of anthropological analysis for developing more context-sensitive approaches to reform implementation relevant to policymakers, practitioners, and researchers.

Ahir es va celebrar en el casal Sageta de Foc el acto de «Vivències i Sabers. Converses rares sobre intersexualitats i càncer de cèrvix per imaginar altres ginecologies possibles».

L'esdeveniment va girar entorn de la presentació del llibre "Artesanies Biològiques. Per què la biologia i la clínica necessiten a les persones intersex" (Sam Fernández, 2025) i el comic "Listening to the Cervix: a Handbook on Early-Stages Cervical Cancer, Embodied Knowledge and Power" (Laia i Lyona, 2026).

¡¡Gràcies per a tots per l'assistència!!

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"Abans i després d'Alma-Ata: l'atenció sanitària de proximitat entre el franquisme i la Llei General de Sanitat (1939-1986)" per Josep M. Comelles i Josep Barceló Prats (2026)

Resum:
L’article analitza l’evolució de l’atenció de proximitat a Espanya (1939-1986), des del model implantat pel SOE (1944) fins a la consolidació del concepte “atenció primària” sorgit d’Alma-Ata (1978). Aquesta genealogia descriu el pas d’una visió hospital-centrista i burocràtica a l’estructura consagrada per la Llei General de Sanitat, definint les bases del model de salut derivat d’aquesta reforma.

Accés a l'article: https://raco.cat/index.php/Gimbernat/article/view/980000008759/551410

Avui en Llibres de la Col·lecció d'Antropologia Mèdica ( ; ) tornem a:

📕 📚 “Medicamentos, cultura y sociedad” (2020) coordinat per Johanna Fröhlich Zapata, Cecilia García i Oriol Romaní.

En aquest llibre s'ofereix un conjunt d'anàlisi i reflexions per a entendre com funcionen en el món contemporani les relacions d'aquestes substàncies, que coneixem com a medicaments, amb diferents grups humans. Aquestes substàncies, baix diverses formes, han acompanyat a la humanitat des dels seus inicis, sigui des d'un punt de vista empíric o simbòlic, en els seus processos d'autoatenció, medicació i automedicació. Actualment, els medicaments ocupen una situació estratègica en les nostres societats globalitzades, sigui a nivell econòmic (rol de la indústria farmacèutica) o com a elements de control social, a més d'elements tècnics de gestió de la salut. La riquesa de l'anàlisi *socioantropológico es reflecteix en aquest llibre, que situa al medicament en el context del conjunt de processos que li donen el seu significat en cadascuna de les societats o grups socials en què s'utilitza.

Accés al catàleg: https://www.publicacionsurv.cat/llibres-digitals/antropologia-medica/15-cataleg/antropologia-medica/886-medicamentos,-cultura-y-sociedad