Finding ways to carry on: stories of vulnerability in chronic illness

Abstract

Purpose: In this study, we explore the lived experiences of chronic illness in four groups of patients; children with asthma, adolescents with diabetes, young adults with depression, and adult patients with chronic, obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Persons living with chronic illness are often designated as vulnerable. This study builds on the assumption that being vulnerable belongs to being human, and that vulnerability also might entail strength and possibilities for growth. Methods: A narrative analysis was undertaken to illuminate how experiences of vulnerability were narrated across the four patient groups, presenting four individual stories, one from each of the patient groups. Results/conclusion: The stories illuminate how living with a chronic illness implies differing capabilities and capacities dependent on the specific condition. At the same time the stories point to how various abilities and challenges in living with chronic illness can be alleviated or seen as resources. Considered together, the stories underscore how ´finding ways to carry on´ in chronic illness requires interpretational work. By calling upon resources among significant others, in the surroundings and in oneself, the narrator can find ways of interpreting living with chronic illness that might open towards a hopeful future.

“There Is Method to This Madness” A Qualitative Investigation of Home Medication Management by Older Adults

“…These health behaviors can include refusing to take certain medications or self-adjusting one's dosage and dosing schedule. More so, patients tend to double down on taking their medications as prescribed, particularly when the consequences, real or perceived, of not taking their medications heighten their sense of vulnerability [31][32][33]. However, while self-adjustment of medication dosage may give the patient a sense of being in control or less vulnerable, it also raises the risk of harm when done without the professional guidance of health care providers.…”

Integrated health care systems for asthma: A qualitative narrative study from the perspective of Ecuadorian health professionals

“…This was an interpretive qualitative study, through narrative analysis, seeking to understand how people construct the meanings of their experiences [15].…”

Lived Experience of Hereditary Chronic Pancreatitis – A Qualitative Interview Study

“…The subjective experience of living with a chronic condition has received increasing research interest both in medicine and the sociology of health and illness since the 1980s. [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35] Ongoing debates on chronic illness focus on individual coping strategies, 35 selfmanagement, 36,37 the consequences of a chronic illness for the identity of patients, especially of young patients, [38][39][40] and the correlations to employment, 41 family 42,43 and social life. 44 The concept of biographical disruption, according to Bury, 45 often serves as a theoretical background for research on the subjective experience of chronic conditions.…”