Graduation Year
2017
Document Type
Thesis
Degree
M.A.
Degree Name
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Degree Granting Department
Communication
Major Professor
Ambar Basu, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Christopher McRae, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Mahuya Pal, Ph.D.
Keywords
Short-term missions, Ethics, Communication, Health, Honduras
Abstract
This study seeks to understand how short-term medical missions fulfill health needs for their recipients in Honduras, and how in turn, mission participants experience need fulfillment as well. By using the theoretical concept of co-construction of health to see how health needs are or are not met, I conducted a thematic analysis of the Baptist Medical and Dental Mission International (BMDMI) resulting in the following themes: 1.) Mission workers receive fulfillment from their experiences in the mission field. 2.) Mission recipients receive partial fulfillment of needs from the mission. 3). Through a calling, missions are a means to an end. Through these themes, this projects examines ethical stances on missions, communication about health in mission contexts, and whose needs are met, privileged, and silenced.
Scholar Commons Citation
Howell, Erin, "Volunteer Tourism: Fulfilling the Needs for God and Medicine in Latin America" (2017). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/6865
