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

被引：267

作者：

Fox, NJ ^{[1
]}

Ward, KJ ^{[1
]}

O'Rourke, AJ ^{[1
]}

机构：

[1] Univ Sheffield, ScHARR, Sheffield S1 4DA, S Yorkshire, England

来源：

SOCIAL SCIENCE & MEDICINE | 2005年 / 60卷 / 06期

基金：

英国经济与社会研究理事会;

关键词：

consumer; expert patient; Internet; medical model; Xenical; weight loss;

D O I：

10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.07.005

中图分类号：

R1 [预防医学、卫生学];

学科分类号：

1004 ; 120402 ;

摘要：

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'. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

引用

页码：1299 / 1309

页数：11

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