Summary
Contents
Key Concepts in Health Studies provides a much needed guide to the central concepts used across the subject, and offers the reader a comprehensive overview of the core topics, theories and debates. Drawing together the fundamentals within the disciplines of health, nursing, and social policy this book is an ideal text both for students studying health in a range of academic fields, and for health and social care practitioners. From ageism to public health, and gender to obesity, the book offers an exciting guide to the multidisciplinary field.
Illness Narratives
Illness Narratives
The concept of an ‘illness narrative’ represents the process by which people with a chronic illness construct and make sense of their past, present and future. As the ‘narrative’ element of the concept implies, this concept is about story telling, personal biography, interpreting and reinterpreting changes that speaks to the relationship of self, body and society and how chronically ill people create and communicate a presentation of self that is meaningful for both them and for wider society.
As Jewson (1976) notes, prior to the development of modern medicine an essential part of any doctor's interaction with a patient was to gather a personal history and to acknowledge their patient's narrative. The physician would attempt to adduce as much detail as possible about ...