[Situational perspective of disease. A social theory of disease based on a study of back trouble].
BACKGROUND
This article presents a situational perspective of disease based on sociological theories and an empirical study of back trouble.


METHODS
The empirical findings device from a longitudinal study of 20 to 54-year-old men and women in the population of a mixed urban/rural area. Quantitative as well as qualitative methods were applied.


RESULTS
The findings support a contextual view of disease. Back trouble can be described as a process which springs from and is conditioned by the person's relation to his/her environment, through the way this relation expresses itself in the ongoing situation. This is what is meant by the term "situational disease". Back trouble develops out of the "pool" of omnipresent symptoms in our everyday lives. The disease process seems to be changeable and reversible, corresponding to ongoing changes in the person-situation relation.


CONCLUSIONS
This study concludes that disease is part of the local situation of the individual and implies that any generalisation from one person to another concerning etiology, treatment or prognosis should be made with great care. The findings concerning back trouble can be supposed to have broader validity based on a number of theoretical grounds.
Gannik
Dorte Effersøe
DE
Kobenhavns Universitet, Central forskningsenhed for almen praksis, Afdeling for Almen Medicin. Dorte.Gannik@gpract.ku.dk
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001416:Back Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011379:Prognosis; D011602:Psychophysiologic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D012803:Sick Role; D012931:Social Environment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires