Chingchai Methaphat

Project
Risk, health and illness, environment, political economy, critical-interpretive medical anthropology, post-modernism, Southeast Asian countries, Thailand

About Chingchai Methaphat
Thai Native Speaker
Laotian: Reading fair; Listening, fluent; Speaking, fluent
English: Reading fluent; Listening, fluent; Speaking, fluent

American Anthropological Association, member
Society for Medical Anthropology, member
Society for Cultural Anthropology, member

Training/Education
1994-Present: Lecturer, Burapha University, Faculty of Public Health Chonburi, Thailand

1984-1994: Community health nurse, Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Thailand

1982-1984: Registered nurse, Srinagarind Hospital, Khon Kaen University, Thailand

Grants and Fellowships
2004-Present: The Royal Thai Government Scholarship

2003 (October-December): International Scholars for Occupational and Environmental Health (ISOEH) Project, Fogarty Foundation

2001: University Mobility in Asia Pacific (UMAP)

1997-1998: British Chevening Scholarship

1988-1989: Southeast Asian Ministers of Educaiton Organization and Tropical Medicine (SEAMEO-TROPMED) Scholarship

Publications/Presentations
Title: Risk Handling Behavior of Paint-producing Workers: two factories’ experience in Eastern Thailand

Abstract: In this article, I argue that although workers rarely use protective devices while working, paint-producing workers do perceive chemical risks and apply alternative techniques. Since chemical hazards are perceived as long-term effects, workers feel wearing protective devices decreases their efficiency and causes discomfort. Therefore, they avoid using company-issued devices but apply alternative techniques they learned from friends or other workers. Aside from avoiding risks by alternative methods, many workers use intoxicants because of believing to help excrete harmful chemicals from their bodies. Alcohol consumption appears to be a common practice not only for social purposes but also for health protection.

This abstract is presented at the conference on “World on the Edge,” Vancouver, BC 2006, held by the Society for Applied Anthropology, 66th Annual Meeting, March 28 – April 2, 2006,at Hyatt Regency Hotel.