Date of Award
2026
Document Type
Capstone Project
Degree Name
Biology, BA, BS
School
CAS
Department
McNair Scholars Program
Faculty Advisor
Sukanya Ray
Abstract
Individuals affected by invisible disabilities, such as Sickle Cell Disease (SCD), have additional challenges beyond the physical manifestation of their disease, which is otherwise unknown externally. SCD patients continually consider disease manifestation in everyday life and experience varying degrees of disease perception in and out of the hospital environment. Additional considerations of a patient’s other intersecting identities, such as race and cultural identity, call attention to the sociological landscape of the United States of America. The dynamics observed within this landscape can be seen through the symbolic interaction of these identities with the invisible disability identity, in which a compounding effect from intersectional interactions substantiates the impact of stigma on an affected individual’s quality of life. Healthcare providers are the connecting piece between patients and the American healthcare system. A provider’s ability to offer care reflects the role of impact on disease management and resulting quality of life through ongoing provider-patient relations. Through a secondary literature review of peer-reviewed journals, the symbolic interactions of invisible disability, disease perception, and the intersecting identities of race, cultural, and other identities, factoring in their resulting impacts, are analyzed within the scope of SCD. Additionally, an experiential learning approach will be utilized to provide the expert opinion of providers regarding their perspective of SCD and provide the perspectives of patients regarding their experiences, impacts, and ideas toward solutions. All areas are then assessed within the emerging themes of the literature review and experiential learning.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Recommended Citation
Oppong, Jadyn C., "Evaluating the Role of Provider Perspective and their Impact on Individuals with Sickle Cell Disease in the United States of America" (2026). Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects. 50.
https://dc.suffolk.edu/undergrad/50