The hidden curriculum of patient education for low back pain in general practice

Journal/Book: Sociol Health Ill. 1998; 20: 108 Cowley Rd, Oxford, Oxon, England OX4 1JF. Blackwell Publ Ltd. 96-111.

Abstract: In this article I explore the implicit learning that occurs in and through doctor-patient educational encounters in general practice. Drawing upon a recent study of low back pain, I argue that whilst general practitioners appear to dominate the process of patient education, this process cannot be viewed simply as a repressive social control mechanism. Rather patients voluntarily choose to exert bodily self-controls in the light of patient education, due to their wider association with freedom, health and personal choice. Patient education for low back pain also offers opportunities for people to liberate their subjectivities so that social controls become redeployed or reappropriated for idiosyncratic or counter-hegemonic purposes.

Note: Article VS-Card Skelton A, Univ Sheffield, Div Educ, Educ Bldg, 388 Glossop Rd, Sheffield S10 2JA, S Yorkshire, ENGLAND

Keyword(s): hidden curriculum; patient education; lifestyle prevention; low back pain; doctor-patient communication; medicine and social control

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