Illness Experiences and Attitudes towards Medication in Online Communities for People with Fibromyalgia

Sabrina Cipolletta, Silvia Caterina Maria Tomaino, Eliana Lo Magno and Elena Faccio
Additional contact information
Sabrina Cipolletta: Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, Italy
Silvia Caterina Maria Tomaino: Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, Italy
Eliana Lo Magno: Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, Italy
Elena Faccio: Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Pedagogy and Applied Psychology, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, Italy

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 22, 1-11

Abstract: Fibromyalgia is a chronic disabling syndrome, and the legitimacy of its diagnosis is still debated. Internet and online communities may become a relevant resource for affected people. This present study aims to understand the role of online communities relating to fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) patients’ illness experiences and their attitudes towards medication. A qualitative content analysis based on the grounded theory approach was conducted on 19 conversations from an online forum, and 14 online interviews. Illness experience, lack of reference points, online communities, personal role and attitude towards medication were the five categories identified, with the search for recognition as the core category. The study highlighted that online communities represent a resource that allows users to express and share their needs, especially in terms of legitimacy and recognition.

Keywords: e-health; fibromyalgia; illness experience; medication; online communities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/22/8683/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/22/8683/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:22:p:8683-:d:449516

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().