Our narrative approach deepens the standardized and predominantly cognitive statements of questionnaires in research on doctor-patient relations by individualized emotional and biographical aspects of patients' perspective. Doctors should be trained to become aware of their impact in patients' coping processes.

Patient centeredness is a central concept in the treatment and rehabilitation of persons with chronic illness in Germany. There are various concepts of and approaches to patient centeredness, most of them developed from the perspective of health care research and the institutions. In terms of participation requirements, there has been a lack of understanding of the patient's perspective and experiences so far. In this article, the authors assume that the collection and analysis of patient experiences can improve patient participation and provide access to the experience of living and coping with an illness, including the patient's interactions with the health care system, their participation, and their preferences for participation. Potential uses for and the limits and risks of utilizing patient experiences are discussed, using the example of the website project Krankheitserfahrungen.de (DIPEx Germany). The project collects patient experiences in the form of narrative interviews. In the course of sharing their stories, the speakers become experts on their own lives and describe where and how they feel engaged in their health care and how they wish to become further engaged, thereby experiencing participation in terms of the International Classification of Functioning. The experience of rehabilitation is viewed in a comprehensive manner for those affected. It is not limited to experiences in specific institutions, but rather, the patient experience includes the context and processes, and describes how patients can find their way back to their lives after the interruption of an illness.

Aim of the study was to explore meaning and consequences for patients for having their illness experiences published in the internet. Patients who participated in the establishment of a research-based internet website on illness experiences were interviewed about their experiences of taking part in the project. 14 patients with diabetes and 29 patients with chronic pain participated in the follow-up. They were interviewed with an open narrative and semi-structured approach about their motives and experiences of taking part in the project and the impact of the publication on them. Interview transcripts were coded and aggregated in a computer-assisted thematic analysis. Patients unanimously evaluated their participation positively. Many of them reported that it had been an intense and relevant experience, which equalled an intervention. They conveyed that the special effort of the researchers to establish a trustful and caring relationship had proven of value and led to a high identification of the participants with the aims of the website.

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