Search

In recent years, Talcott Parsons' work has come under renewed scrutiny by sociologists who argue that his concept of the sick role has a role to play in current accounts of health and illness. In this paper we describe the ways in which Australian women who had undergone elective risk-reducing breast surgery (with or without ovarian surgery) spoke about their convalescence. Women presented two contrasting recovery narratives in describing their experiences, with the negative effects of breast surgery either minimised or emphasised. In an effort to explain these differences, we draw upon the Parsonian concept of the sick role and argue that the extent to which women either embraced or rejected the sick role in their accounts was related to the amount of external legitimation they had received from healthcare professionals. We conclude that the concept of the sick role may provide useful insight into women's experiences of risk-management today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines experiences of living with chronic illness for haemodialysis patients. In order to understand these experiences the paper takes an existential-phenomenological approach. Interviews of seven participants (five males, two females) were collected in a haemodialysis clinic. Based upon the participants experiences three core themes emerged: (1) the challenges of living with chronic renal failure; (2) body changes and embodiment; (3) their illness experience and social relationships. The findings suggest that the illness experience of chronic renal failure is an on-going struggle to attain a sense of control. We suggest that where a sense of control is limited this can create a sense of powerlessness. Further, the illness experience was not solely restricted to the individual, but also affected wider social relationships. It is only through taking into account the context of patients experience of illness that clinicians/nurses can meaningfully draw on all aspects of evidence to reach integrated clinical judgement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]