IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v166y2016icp25-32.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

‘Keep complaining til someone listens’: Exchanges of tacit healthcare knowledge in online illness communities

Author

Listed:
  • Foster, Drew

Abstract

This article examines online exchanges of advice and knowledge among patients. It draws a distinction between explicit healthcare knowledge (i.e., facts about symptoms and treatments) and tacit healthcare knowledge (i.e., know-how about navigating the healthcare system). Based on analysis of message board interactions at a prominent online illness community, I find that patients routinely encourage one another to exercise agency strategically in clinical encounters by honing specific interactional skills. I isolate three major techniques that are advocated within the community (affect regulation, information management, and treatment persistence) and frame them as discrete examples of tacit healthcare knowledge. I argue that tacit healthcare knowledge constitutes a potentially potent source of empowerment for patients that can help them to receive their desired form of care from the health system and to negotiate relationships with medical professionals and institutions. I conclude by discussing how the concept of tacit healthcare knowledge further clarifies the wide variety of lay knowledge exchanged among patients online.

Suggested Citation

  • Foster, Drew, 2016. "‘Keep complaining til someone listens’: Exchanges of tacit healthcare knowledge in online illness communities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 25-32.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:166:y:2016:i:c:p:25-32
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.08.007
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953616304294
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.08.007?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thompson, M.S., 1986. "Willingness to pay and accept risks to cure chronic disease," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 76(4), pages 392-396.
    2. Dumit, Joseph, 2006. "Illnesses you have to fight to get: Facts as forces in uncertain, emergent illnesses," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(3), pages 577-590, February.
    3. McKinlay, John & Marceau, Lisa, 2008. "When there is no doctor: Reasons for the disappearance of primary care physicians in the US during the early 21st century," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(10), pages 1481-1491, November.
    4. Gray, Nicola J. & Klein, Jonathan D. & Noyce, Peter R. & Sesselberg, Tracy S. & Cantrill, Judith A., 2005. "Health information-seeking behaviour in adolescence: the place of the internet," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(7), pages 1467-1478, April.
    5. Barker, Kristin K. & Galardi, Tasha R., 2011. "Dead by 50: Lay expertise and breast cancer screening," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(8), pages 1351-1358, April.
    6. Berger, Magdalena & Wagner, Todd H. & Baker, Laurence C., 2005. "Internet use and stigmatized illness," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(8), pages 1821-1827, October.
    7. Ziebland, Sue, 2004. "The importance of being expert: the quest for cancer information on the Internet," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 59(9), pages 1783-1793, November.
    8. Griffiths, Frances & Cave, Jonathan & Boardman, Felicity & Ren, Justin & Pawlikowska, Teresa & Ball, Robin & Clarke, Aileen & Cohen, Alan, 2012. "Social networks – The future for health care delivery," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(12), pages 2233-2241.
    9. Lupton, Deborah & Donaldson, Cam & Lloyd, Peter, 1991. "Caveat emptor or blissful ignorance? Patients and the consumerist ethos," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 559-568, January.
    10. Glenton, Claire, 2003. "Chronic back pain sufferers--striving for the sick role," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 57(11), pages 2243-2252, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rushforth, Alex & Ladds, Emma & Wieringa, Sietse & Taylor, Sharon & Husain, Laiba & Greenhalgh, Trisha, 2021. "Long Covid – The illness narratives," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 286(C).
    2. Donghua Chen & Runtong Zhang & Kecheng Liu & Lei Hou, 2018. "Knowledge Discovery from Posts in Online Health Communities Using Unified Medical Language System," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-16, June.
    3. Lilas Ali & Andreas Fors & Inger Ekman, 2018. "Need of support in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(5-6), pages 1089-1096, March.
    4. Petrakaki, Dimitra & Hilberg, Eva & Waring, Justin, 2018. "Between empowerment and self-discipline: Governing patients' conduct through technological self-care," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 146-153.
    5. Donnelly, Katie, 2024. "Patient-centered or population-centered? How epistemic discrepancies cause harm and sow mistrust," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 341(C).
    6. Park, Hyanggi, 2022. "Can imaginary mobilities be conducive to mental health?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    7. Menon, Alka V., 2017. "Do online reviews diminish physician authority? The case of cosmetic surgery in the U.S," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 1-8.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dedding, Christine & van Doorn, Roesja & Winkler, Lex & Reis, Ria, 2011. "How will e-health affect patient participation in the clinic? A review of e-health studies and the current evidence for changes in the relationship between medical professionals and patients," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 49-53, January.
    2. Locock, Louise & Nettleton, Sarah & Kirkpatrick, Susan & Ryan, Sara & Ziebland, Sue, 2016. "‘I knew before I was told’: Breaches, cues and clues in the diagnostic assemblage," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 85-92.
    3. Phillips, Tarryn, 2012. "Repressive authenticity in the quest for legitimacy: Surveillance and the contested illness lawsuit," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(10), pages 1762-1768.
    4. Halpern, Carolyn Tucker & Mitchell, Ellen M.H. & Farhat, Tilda & Bardsley, Phil, 2008. "Effectiveness of web-based education on Kenyan and Brazilian adolescents' knowledge about HIV/AIDS, abortion law, and emergency contraception: Findings from TeenWeb," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(4), pages 628-637, August.
    5. Jin Zhang & Shanshan Zhai & Hongxia Liu & Jennifer Ann Stevenson, 2016. "Social network analysis on a topic‐based navigation guidance system in a public health portal," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 67(5), pages 1068-1088, May.
    6. Tian, Xiaoli & Zhang, Sai, 2022. "Expert or experiential knowledge? How knowledge informs situated action in childcare practices," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 307(C).
    7. Rueger, Jasmina & Dolfsma, Wilfred & Aalbers, Rick, 2021. "Perception of peer advice in online health communities: Access to lay expertise," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    8. Wu, Haitao & Ba, Ning & Ren, Siyu & Xu, Lu & Chai, Jingxia & Irfan, Muhammad & Hao, Yu & Lu, Zhi-Nan, 2022. "The impact of internet development on the health of Chinese residents: Transmission mechanisms and empirical tests," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    9. Melander, Stina, 2023. "Different logics of pain: the gendered dimension of chronic pain in a relational setting," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 335(C).
    10. Richard D. Smith, 2003. "Construction of the contingent valuation market in health care:a critical assessment," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(8), pages 609-628, August.
    11. Alina Duduciuc, 2014. "Teenagers And The Use Of New Technologies (Ict) For Health Information," Studies and Scientific Researches. Economics Edition, "Vasile Alecsandri" University of Bacau, Faculty of Economic Sciences, issue 20.
    12. Trundle, Catherine, 2011. "Biopolitical endpoints: Diagnosing a deserving British nuclear test veteran," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(6), pages 882-888, September.
    13. Alan Diener & Bernie O'Brien & Amiram Gafni, 1998. "Health care contingent valuation studies: a review and classification of the literature," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 7(4), pages 313-326, June.
    14. Pilkington, Karen & Ridge, Damien T. & Igwesi-Chidobe, Chinonso N. & Chew-Graham, Carolyn A. & Little, Paul & Babatunde, Opeyemi & Corp, Nadia & McDermott, Clare & Cheshire, Anna, 2020. "A relational analysis of an invisible illness: A meta-ethnography of people with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) and their support needs," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    15. Willemijn van Dolen & Charles B. Weinberg, 2019. "An Empirical Investigation of Factors Affecting Perceived Quality and Well-Being of Children Using an Online Child Helpline," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-11, June.
    16. repec:cup:judgdm:v:2:y:2007:i::p:96-106 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Schaepe, Karen Sue, 2011. "Bad news and first impressions: Patient and family caregiver accounts of learning the cancer diagnosis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(6), pages 912-921, September.
    18. Indrani Saran & Günther Fink & Margaret McConnell, 2018. "How does anonymous online peer communication affect prevention behavior? Evidence from a laboratory experiment," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(11), pages 1-16, November.
    19. Richardson, Jane C. & Ong, Bie Nio & Sim, Julius, 2006. "Is chronic widespread pain biographically disruptive?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(6), pages 1573-1585, September.
    20. Elizabeth Highton-Williamson & Stefan Priebe & Domenico Giacco, 2015. "Online social networking in people with psychosis: A systematic review," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 61(1), pages 92-101, February.
    21. Vololona Rabeharisoa & Michel Callon & Angela Marques Filipe & João Arriscado Nunes & Florence Paterson & Frédéric Vergnaud, 2012. "The dynamics of causes and conditions: the rareness of diseases in French and Portuguese patients' organizations' engagement in research," CSI Working Papers Series 026, Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation (CSI), Mines ParisTech.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:166:y:2016:i:c:p:25-32. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.