Optimism and Compliance: An Examination of Disempowering Processes Within Online Patient Communities
Department
English
College
Arts and Humanities
Publication Date
5-2018
Abstract
Patients diagnosed with long-term conditions (LTCs) are now being asked of medical practitioners to take an active role in their own health care as “expert patients.” This trend has accelerated the increase in people with LTCs who are using the internet for both information and social support. A valuable resource to these patients, and of interest to researchers, is a new type of online space: online patient communities (OPCs) created for patients suffering from specific illnesses. In order to better understand potential disempowering processes within OLPs, I follow the research and examine the illness narratives, focusing on their various external influences and the work they do within these communities. Among the findings discussed, are group norms of optimism and compliance within certain communities.
Instructor’s Name
Abigail Bakke
Degree
Master of Arts in English, Technical Communication Option
Document Type
Capstone Paper
Recommended Citation
Coleman, Wendi F., "Optimism and Compliance: An Examination of Disempowering Processes Within Online Patient Communities" (2018). Technical Communication Capstone Course. 27.
https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/eng_tech_comm_capstone_course/27
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
