Approaching the locked dialogues of the body. Communicating symptoms through illness diaries.
OBJECTIVE
To describe and analyse communication following the use of an illness diary method in consultations with patients suffering from longstanding illness without clinical findings.


METHODS
Action research in own practice with qualitative formative evaluation of material provided by the use of the diary method. Analysis followed a procedure modified from phenomenologically-based methodology.


METHODS
The practice of the main author.


METHODS
36 consultations with 16 patients where the illness diary method was applied.


RESULTS
Communication following illness diary utilisation could be summarised as: 1) illness diaries as medical documentation, 2) making access to the insight of the patient, 3) exploring internal dialogues and locked voices, and 4) adding meaning to a spoken message through writing (creative distance). By changing the frames of conversation through illness diary utilisation towards one or more of these four levels of communication, the patient may become a more equal consultation partner.


CONCLUSIONS
Illness diaries can provide clinically relevant information and may emphasise the patient's input and significance in medical dialogues on longstanding symptoms without clinical findings.
Stensland
P
P
Sogndal Health Centre, Norway.
Malterud
K
K
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003142:Communication; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008487:Medical History Taking / Q000379:methods*; D008499:Medical Records; D019365:Metaphor; D008875:Middle Aged; D011602:Psychophysiologic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology