IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v60y2005i6p1299-1309.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The 'expert patient': empowerment or medical dominance? The case of weight loss, pharmaceutical drugs and the Internet

Author

Listed:
  • Fox, N.J.
  • Ward, K.J.
  • O'Rourke, A.J.

Abstract

Do 'informed' or 'expert' patients challenge dominant traditions in biomedicine or simply adopt these as conventional ways of thinking about body shape and size, illness and health? This paper examines this question in relation to the use of the weight-loss drug Xenical by participants in an Internet forum for obese and overweight people. Ethnographic and interview data from the forum provides evidence that participants share information and support each other as they use Xenical, and in the process emerge as 'expert patients' in relation to their body shape and its treatment. However, it is argued that while an 'expert patient' can be perceived as desirable, enabling the democratisation of healthcare, it can also be constraining. The exchanges between the users in the forum perpetuate a biomedical model of overweight as a condition to be overcome. The discussion critically considers a number of options for the development of the expert patient, including the emergence of an 'informed consumer'.

Suggested Citation

  • Fox, N.J. & Ward, K.J. & O'Rourke, A.J., 2005. "The 'expert patient': empowerment or medical dominance? The case of weight loss, pharmaceutical drugs and the Internet," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(6), pages 1299-1309, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:60:y:2005:i:6:p:1299-1309
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(04)00349-1
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

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

    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:60:y:2005:i:6:p:1299-1309. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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.