The social construction of health crisis in intimate relational communication

Thesis (M.A.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2006For women who have dealt with health crises, intimate relationships are the single most significant resource for coming to understand how life is affected by such occurrences. Health crises are times of reconstitution of self and relationships (Lorber, 1997). The present research began in Human Science, the epistemology of Constructionism, the theory of Social Construction of Reality, and used Narrative Inquiry and conversational interviewing to produce an understanding of women's lived experience of health crisis in intimate relationships. This research discusses the creation of the meanings of self, other, and relationship for women who have experienced health crisis. During analysis, three themes emerged: 'sick of being sick, ' 'it's not a big deal, ' and 'I need empathy!' This study has demonstrated that the experience of health crisis has significant effects on the lived experience of women in North American culture