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Description
In recent years, health and illness discourse has shifted considering patients` experiences and perceptions central to constructing legitimacy, diagnoses, and care, however, few studies account for the impact and role of health information technologies (HIT) such as diagnostic websites and electronic support groups on shaping the experience of illness. This study examines how this new context, abundant with accessible medical information (lay and official alike) facilitated by HIT, shapes women’s experience of chronic illness and medical encounters. In order to explore how women experience and perceive their illness and interactions with medical professionals, a brief online survey (n=31) was conducted along with 11 in-depth interviews with women who identified as either white or Filipina and ranged in age from 21 to 71 years old. Consistent with previous research, women’s accounts indicated having to navigate self-presentation in order to “earn” Parson’s ‘Sick Role’ when they did not meet health and illness archetypes informed by the biomedical norm. Specifically, participant identities and self-presentation were found to challenge biomedical norms and archetypes of gender and age. Findings also suggest the importance of HIT on patient empowerment and consumer power during medical encounters as well as the limitations to both. While participants expressed a newfound sense of control over their illness attributed to their HIT use, their accounts also demonstrated maintaining traditional medical standards of knowledge and ultimately, dependence upon medical authority for the diagnoses or treatments they desire. The study design and analysis was informed by social constructionist theory taking a critical look at the ‘Sick Role’ and recent trends of medicalization through an intersectional lens. In general, interview findings suggest a significant impact of gender and age on patient perceptions and experiences of medical encounter with little mention of race whereas a Fisher’s exact test utilizing survey data found significant but limited evidence of race-ethnic disparities in perception of having been “taken seriously” by medical professionals (P<0.01).
