Une autonomie sous contrainte. Les usages sociaux de l’autosurveillance glycémique par les personnes atteintes de diabète
Abstract
Like other chronic diseases, the medical management of diabetes is largely left to patients themselves. In particular, diabetics have to measure their blood sugar level alone, interpret the figure and act accordingly. This article proposes to question what the medical institution does when it seeks to produce an "autonomous patient", focusing on the transformations induced by the delegation of body monitoring to patients. Considering the importance given to blood glucose levels, the article first shows how the uses of self-monitoring by patients are predetermined by the medical institution. By taking the point of view of people with diabetes, it is possible to observe a deep incorporation of medical gestures. The practices of monitoring the body thus show how medical control is depersonalized and embodied in internalized reasoning. It is also, paradoxically, through the appropriation of medical gestures and reasoning that some patients come to deviate from the prescriptions they receive.
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