Illness and narrative

Journal/Book: Sociol Health Ill. 1997; 19: 108 Cowley Rd, Oxford, Oxon, England OX4 1JF. Blackwell Publ Ltd. 48-69.

Abstract: The article gives a review of the last ten years' of research on illness narratives, and organises this research around certain central themes. Four aspects of illness narratives are discussed: 1. A proposed typology giving three different kinds of illness narratives - illness as narrative, narrative about illness, and narrative as illness; 2. Considerations of what can be accomplished with the help of illness narratives; 3. Problems connected with how illness narratives are organised; and 4. The social context of telling and its influence on the narrative. It is argued that as social scientists we can use illness narratives as a means of studying not only the world of biomedical reality, but also the illness experience and its social and cultural underpinnings.

Note: Article Hyden LC, Univ Stockholm, Dept Social Work, S-10691 Stockholm, SWEDEN

Keyword(s): narrative; illness experience; medical sociology; voice; REALITY CONSTRUCTION; LIFE STORIES; MEDICINE; CANCER; DIMENSIONS; EXPERIENCE; INTERVIEW; ONCOLOGY; IDENTITY; HISTORY

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