[final program]

CALL FOR PAPERS

Date of the conference: July, 2-4 2004 (arrival: July, 1st, evening; departure July, 4th)
Place: Universidade do Minho, Braga (North-Portugal, 45 kms north-eastern of Porto)
Organizer: PHOENIX TN and Universidade do Minho
Responsible: Maria Marta Lobo de Araújo
Venue:
Instituto de Ciências Sociais
Universidade do Minho
4700-057 Braga
Portugal

Email for all matters, except for sending in the abstracts: cminho.secretariat@phoenixtn.net

Scientific committee: Prof. Laurinda Abreu (University of Evora), Prof. Marta Lobo de Araújo (University of Minho), Prof. Martin Dinges (University of Mannheim)
Conference language: English
Deadline for abstracts: February 25th 2004
Email for abstracts: cminho@phoenixtn.net
Definitive invitation of speakers: end of March
Deadline for submission of papers: June 15th 2004
Web-Publication of all papers: June 20th 2004

RATIONALE

The traditional narrative of the inter-relatedness of self-help, intermediary organizations and formal institutions was formulated until recently in the following way: When self-help failed to cope with health and care problems in the late medieval cities, mutual help followed leading to intermediary institutions. These were institutions were overburdened by population growth which in turn led to an ever growing committment of the early modern city and - later - the "state" in this field, aiming to take over the guidance of the entire health care sector. National health-care insurance systems of the European type were the epitome and the definite result of this entire process. In consequence, informal institutions only played an ever more marginal role.

It is only since the debate about the crisis of the welfare-state and more precisely of its healthcare budgets that new considerations of the relative role of self-help, informal and formal institutions found their way to public debate. These ideas changed the agenda of historical research. Since the 1980s, the linearity of the historical development and the irreversibility are under discussion. The relative role of self-help, informal and formal institutions and their interrelatedness is now considered in a more open-minded way: Informal solutions may indeed be better solutions for certain health-problems than solutions by formal institutions. European history provides plenty of examples for different ways of inter-relating the three above-mentioned sectors.

The aim of this conference is to reflect upon the interrelatedness of the three levels of health-care throughout the ages. Many perspectives are possible. Here are some examples, such as the patient's point of view: Patients' attitudes or practices from a particular sector may have an impact on other levels of health-care. From an institutional point of view it may be interesting to look at the users - as for example ill children - who may get into an institution, then return to the family and finally go back to the institution. Patients' recommendation of specific types of healers may influence the medical market as behaviour and recommendations of the providers of health-care may have effects on individual decisions.

For an analysis of health concerns and practices it is the individual who must be the starting point. Health is intimately linked to healthy and unhealthy life styles. These life styles were always based on a certain body of knowledge, which circulated between the oral tradition of any given community and the literature of hygiene. Since the invention of the printing press and especially since the general diffusion of the periodical press an enormous growth of information on healthy life styles developed.

Therefore, health care as an individual or collective practice changed during the centuries in relation to the available body of knowledge. The forms and results of these everyday practices are still largely unknown: An entire field of research covering healthy nutrition, smoking habits, the intake of drugs and the various forms of sports are part of it. Concerning more medicine-related practices self-medication is an important issue: Recent studies show the large impact of this practice on the pharmaceutical market.

Self help in health matters is practised in the family - be it a nuclear or an enlarged family - in households, neighbourhoods, and other networks, as for example networks of friends. Working relations and even relations based on accomodation may play a role. All these person-based relations play an important role in patients' choice of medications, healers, life-styles, and institutions. It is important to acknowledge this essential role of self-help in health and health-care.

Health-care is secondly in the hands of more or less informal intermediary organizations such as religious or other brotherhoods, during later centuries in other self-help organisations such as labour-unions, charitable associations, friendly societies or other types of non-profit organisations. Their specific motivation often shapes the kind of health care priorities. It makes, for instance, a difference, whether denominational competition is at work or not. It also matters whether upper class people - as for example entrepreneurs - have the intention to help third persons or whether workers want to help themselves and their families by founding friendly societies. These different informal institutions "invent" therefore different health care needs. They prefer solutions that suit their political and social goals.

The bulk of research focuses on formal institutions as an important provider of health-care. Hospitals, insurance companies, health-care schemes of national states are the typical examples of these agencies. Even inside these formal institutions the interrelatedness between self help and help by third persons can be traced. One example could be patient's attitude to nursing.

We explicitly encourage papers dealing with the 19th and 20th century.

HOW TO PROCEED?

Please send an English-language abstract for a paper (one page-length) until February 25th 2004 to the following email address cminho@phoenixtn.net: the abstract must contain name, title, position and institution of the author, email-address, and ordinary mail-address.

You will be informed before the end of March 2004, whether your proposal has been accepted or not. The guidelines for the preparation and submission of papers will be sent together with the message of acceptance.

Papers will be precirculated and prepublished on the website of PHOENIX TN, http\\phoenixtn.net, two weeks before the conference. This enables every participant to read the papers and to get a precise idea of the other contributions to the conference. During the conference the paper will only be summarized (seven minutes), followed by a comment and a discussion.

Participation is only guaranteed if the deadline for submission of papers is kept: June 15th 2004. For papergivers who are members of Phoenixtn travel expenses, lodging and board during the conference will be paid for. However we also encourage others to give a paper, although in this case we cannot reimburse travel expenses.