2002 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
A PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY OF ILLNESS NARRATIVES
| Project/Area Number |
09610135
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
教育・社会系心理学
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| Research Institution | TOHOKU GAKUIN UNIVERSITY |
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Principal Investigator |
HORIKE Hiroko TOHOKU GAKUIN UNIVERSITY, FACULTY OF LIBERAL ARTS, PROFESSOR, 教養学部, 教授 (90209297)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1997 – 1998
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| Keywords | HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY / ILLNESS NARRATIVES / ILLNESS COGNITION / SUBJECTIVE ILLNESS EXPERIENCE / HEALTH DIARY METHOD / COMMONSENSE MODEL / LAY REFERRAL SYSTEM / CANCER PATIENTS |
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| Research Abstract |
From the biopsychosocial view of health psychology, it is important to focus on the psychological and social aspects of sickness, namely subjective illness experiences or illness narratives, as well as on the biological aspects. It seems that people develop their own illness narratives through the various help-seeking behaviors or coping behaviors for sickness. The purpose of a series of these studies was to examine the subjective illness experiences/ the illness narratives.
As the quantitative study, the small-scale exploratory research was operated to examine how people treat their daily health problems by health diary method. The data of sick episodes were gathered from 64 men and women who could keep the health diaries for a continuous seven days period. Most of sick episodes were treated in popular sector, especially at home. It was also suggested that people had their own narratives about their sickness and that the actual behaviors and the narratives of their family members affected their illness narratives.
As the qualitative study, some breast cancer patients and their relatives were interviewed on their illness narratives or experiences. The data were analyzed from the point of the commonsense model and the lay referral system. It was found that the patients developed their own illness narratives and that the lay referral system affected them in various ways.
The qualitative research methods on illness experiences or illness narratives were also discussed, as these research interests were relatively new in Japan.
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