Dads, devices, and the presence of care: an ethnographic study of fathers to children with type 1 diabetes in Greece & Denmark

PhD defence by Maria Athena Campbell

Assessment Committee

Professor Tine Mette Gammeltoft, Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen, University of Copenhagen (Chairperson)
Professor Theodoros Rakopoulos, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo
Associate Professor Kathleen Rice, Department of Family Medicine, McGill University

Supervisors

Associate Professor Hanne Overgaard Mogensen

Department

Department of Anthropology

Place

The defence is conducted as a hybrid defence.

To attend the defence in person:
Building: Gothersgade Auditorium 1 Gothersgade 140 1353 København K, Room: Gothersgade Auditorium 1,
Gothersgade 140, 1353 København K

To attend the defence online:
Please follow the link to attend the defence online: https://ucph-ku.zoom.us/j/62462653418?pwd=Z2yYkoO5xPVCNyBH6nLj9HmbdnPawv.1

Email address to gain access to the thesis: maria.athena.campbell@regionh.dk.
You will either receive a copy of the thesis or be informed where you can read a physical copy.
Recipients of copies of the thesis are not allowed to share or distribute it due to copyright compliance.

Short description of the thesis

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is one of the most common chronic conditions among children and youth globally. While advances in treatment have improved outcomes, diabetes remains a demanding condition to manage. Research on parental experiences tend to focus on mothers, who continue to report symptoms of caregiving burden. Fathers' caregiving roles remain ethnographically underexplored-particularly how they are shaped by cultural, institutional, and gendered expectations. This dissertation addresses the urgent need to support families with T1D by centering the experiences of fathers in Denmark and Greece. Employing an experience-near approach, this dissertation contributes to a more nuanced understanding of fatherhood in chronic care contexts and offers practical implications for clinicians seeking to address caregiver burden.