Does medicine speak to us? In what ways are we persuaded by the underlying messages of pharmaceutical campaigns, drug advertisements, or medical commercials?
I asked these crucial questions as I drafted my Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) proposal to the Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR). Fortunately, the OUR funded my health humanities project through a SURF award that included a stipend, sponsored by the Pine Tree Fund for Sexuality Studies. The fellowship allowed me to analyze primary sources, amass relevant secondary sources, and write an academic essay on my findings through a summer-long independent research project.
My research project focused on the rhetoric of responsibilization in pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) drug campaigns. Responsibilization refers to the process by which a patient is made responsible for their health and well-being. When a doctor responsibilizes their patient, they assume the individual to be knowledgeable enough to make the appropriate decisions for their own health. While patient autonomy is important in allowing the patient to control their own body, too much autonomy can have significant detriments. A responsibilized patient may feel overburdened by the duties of managing their health, and they may blame themselves if they fail to heal or return to their expected health status. In these cases, their failure to heal may be read as “noncompliance” by their doctor, straining the doctor-patient relationship. I applied this theoretical framework to the context of PrEP campaigns. PrEP is a preventative medication for HIV/AIDS, and its commercials and advertisements often target men who have sex with men (MSM). For my SURF project, I studied the extent to which these PrEP campaigns responsibilized potential patients. In my research, I determined pharmaceutical advertisements encouraged individuals to adopt PrEP regimens through connotation, active voice in reference to the patient, and using a “model patient” figure. The rhetorical devices were persuasive because they convinced the patient that their actions were the causal factor for their fair or poor health, depending on their choices.
This independent research project has been the most complex academic investigation I’ve conducted, so this summer, I gained valuable insight into the research and paper-writing process. After completing my paper, I learned that academic writing involves significant preparation and construction rather than freeform idea generation. In the past, I’ve outlined my papers at a basic level: introduction, methods, analysis, and conclusion. However, for this project, I mapped out my ideas sentence-by-sentence to ensure that each claim was concise, relevant, and thoroughly supported by external evidence. As a result, I did not spend long periods writing without pause; instead, I workshopped a small portion of the paper at a time, taking frequent breaks to analyze the flow and caliber of my work. To me, academic writing is an architectural process involving a shrewd eye for detail, rhetorical infrastructure, and balance. Daunting research projects become more feasible when meticulously planned and intentionally divided into achievable goals. By working for a few hours a day, focused on a specific claim, concept, or paragraph, my final product was not unattainable and instead an inviting challenge.
This research experience has solidified my interest in pursuing academia in the health humanities, specifically in the rhetoric of health and medicine. Before conducting this project, I was fairly certain about my career plan due to my continuous interest in health humanities courses; my involvement in HHIVE encouraged me to pursue this endeavor. While working towards my final draft, I immensely enjoyed analyzing literary sources, synthesizing connected claims and arguments, employing rhetorical evidence, and formulating a written product. I can envision myself in a career where this is my primary responsibility. Additionally, I am interested in teaching others about my findings and how they can conduct research in a similar manner. This research project brought out my natural inclination to observe and dissect literature, communicate my analyses, and encourage a greater understanding of the vast network of health humanities theoretical frameworks.
Want to learn more?
Read a Q&A with Catherine about her research in the UNC Research Stories blog.
Visit the UNC OUR website to learn more about the SURF program and application process. The Summer 2025 fellowship applications are due on February 2, 2025, by 11:59 p.m. EDT.
Catherine Pabalate (she/her) is a junior at UNC Chapel Hill studying English and comparative literature, biology, and medical anthropology. She has been a member of HHIVE Lab since Fall 2023, and she works as an undergraduate research assistant for Dr. Kym Weed, contributing to her research in antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Additionally, she works as a writing coach at the UNC Writing Center. Pabalate is interested in pursuing a graduate degree in English, focusing on the rhetoric of global health and medicine.