Sociological approaches to LTCs Flashcards
Identify 4 characteristics of long term conditions
- Long term
- Often co-morbidities
- Controlled but not cured
- Profound influence on lives of sufferers
Describe the illness work of LTCs in terms of the diagnosis
Getting diagnosis:
- May be period of uncertainty / ambivalence
- Diagnosis can be shocking, threatening / relieving
Describe the illness work of LTCs in terms of the management
Managing symptoms:
- Cope with physical manifestations of illness
- Cope with bodily changes & self-conception changes
Describe the everyday work of LTCs
- Coping and strategic management; cognitive process & actions
- Normalisation; pre-illness lifestyle intact / redefine identity
Describe the emotional work of LTCs
- Protect emotional well-being of others (reduce dependency)
- Maintaining normal activities (breadwinner, wife, mother)
- May downplay pain to present “cheery self” (impacts youths)
Describe the biographical work of LTCs
- Loss of self
- Former self-image crumbles away without simultaneous development of equally valued new ones
- New consciousness of the body and fragility of life
Describe the identity work of LTCs
- Different conditions carry different connotations
- Affects how people see themselves and how others see them
- Consequence of actual and imagined reaction of others
What is stigma?
Stigma is a negatively defined condition, attribute, trait or behaviour conferring “deviant” status
Distinguish between discreditable and discredited stigma
- Discreditable – nothing seen, but if found out… – e.g. mental illness / HIV positive
- Discredited – physically visible characteristic or well known stigma – e.g. physical disability, known suicide attempt
Distinguish between felt and enacted stigma
- Enacted stigma – the real experience of prejudice, discrimination and disadvantage (as the consequence of a condition)
- Felt stigma – fear of enacted stigma, also encompasses a feeling of shame (associated with having a condition)
