Stigma Stories: Rhetoric, Lived Experience, and Chronic Illness

Abstract

Studying StigmaA Rhetorical Approach to Stories and Lived Experience SIX IN TEN ADULTS in the US live with at least one chronic condition, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2019a). In other words, over half the US population lives with at least one long-term, likely incurable, condition (CDC, 2021b; National Center for Chronic Disease Pre- vention & Health Promotion, 2012). Such conditions vary widely but include cancer, addiction, diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer's disease, and autoimmune conditions, among many others. Despite research demonstrating an already staggering prevalence of chronic conditions in the US, the number of Americans affected by chronic conditions is only estimated to rise. According to one report, "between 2000 and 2030 the number of Americans with chronic conditions will increase by 37 percent, an increase of 46 million people" (Anderson, 2010, p. 7; see also Wu & Green, 2000). The prevalence of chronic conditions alone is startling; however, concerns don't end there. As a category, chronic conditions disproportionately account for 75 to 90 percent of the overall healthcare costs in the US each year, an estimate that lands somewhere between two and three trillion dollars annually (

Occupational Experiences of Medication Management Among Adults Living With Multiple Chronic Conditions

“…As a result, they experienced profound alienation, defined as isolation, stigma, and lack of identity (Townsend & Wilcock, 2004). Our findings of experienced alienation support those identified in the literature, including enacted and internalized illness and disability stigma (Kessler, 2022;O'Donnell & Habenicht, 2022); social pressures to take or not take medications (Munro et al 2022); invalidating and harmful encounters with health care professionals (James et al, 2022;Munro et al, 2022;Nascimento & Ramalho-de-Oliveira, 2021); and denial of access to necessary medications due to systemic barriers (Munro et al, 2022). These structurally inequitable messages and relationships are commonplace within the health care system (Eriksen et al, 2020;Mohammed et al, 2016) and society (Kessler, 2022;Munro et al, 2022;O'Donnell & Habenicht, 2022) and result in injustices for which people living with chronic disease pay a toll.…”

“…They are a chronicle of an individual's experiences written in narrative format and housed on an internet hosting platform (Hookway, 2008). Blogs are a non-intrusive form of data, allowing the person to freely express what they are experiencing without the constraint of the researcher's presence (Kessler, 2022).…”