Encounters in a world of pain: an autoethnography.
Pain, a major health problem in the United States, is a highly complex and subjective experience that is poorly understood by many medical, psychological, and rehabilitation practitioners. In this paper I use a qualitative research methodology, autoethnography, to present a personal narrative about my experience of chronic pain. In this research I am both the research participant and the researcher. I begin with my personal narrative. I then problematize conceptions about chronic pain and discuss them from the point of view of my own narrative and from stories and ethnographies in the literature. Finally I reflect on how occupational therapists can more effectively work with persons with chronic pain.
Neville-Jan
Ann
A
Department of Occupational Science and Therapy, University of Southern California, 1540 Alcazar St., CHP-133, Los Angeles, California 90089-9003, USA. aneville@usc.edu
D000884:Anthropology, Cultural; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D059408:Pain Management; D011602:Psychophysiologic Disorders / Q000266:history / Q000523:psychology; D016135:Spinal Dysraphism / Q000150:complications / Q000266:history