2015 Health care analysis : HCA : journal of health philosophy and policy
* Struggling Between Strength and Vulnerability, a Patients' Counter Story.
- Currently, patients are expected to take control over their health and their life and act as independent users and consumers. Simultaneously, health care policy demands patients are expected to self manage their disease. This article critically questions whether this is a realistic expectation. The paper presents the auto-ethnographic narrative of the first author, which spans a period of 27 years, from 1985 to 2012. In total nine episodes were extracted from various notes, conversations and discussions in an iterative process. Each of these episodes was condensed around a 'critical moment' as perceived by the "self". The critical moments in the illness process vary between newly encountered problems with basic needs and mourning, to renewed strength and the desire to grow, embracing new situations. Being confronted with and living with a chronic illness involves periods of anxiety and self centredness alternating with strength and advocating the interests of peer-patients. These episodes of emotion, confusion and refinding a balance have a cyclic pattern. The narrative illustrates the vulnerability and dependency of a patient with a chronic disease. The discussion relates this to mainstream dominant views on patients 'in control of their own life'. The narrative illustrates, that the vulnerability and dependency of the patient are key factors to take into account in health care policy. The narrative provides a counter story, challenging current thinking in terms of strength, selfmanagement, patients' own control and independent role.
Overview of noun factor
The noun factor has 7 senses (first 4 from tagged texts)
1. (31) factor -- (anything that contributes causally to a result; "a number of factors determined
the outcome")
2. (8) component, constituent, element, factor, ingredient -- (an abstract part of something;
"jealousy was a component of his character"; "two constituents of a musical composition are melody
and harmony"; "the grammatical elements of a sentence"; "a key factor in her success"; "humor: an
effective ingredient of a speech")
3. (4) divisor, factor -- (one of two or more integers that can be exactly divided into another
integer; "what are the 4 factors of 6?")
4. (1) agent, factor, broker -- (a businessman who buys or sells for another in exchange for a
commission)
5. factor -- (any of the numbers (or symbols) that form a product when multiplied together)
6. factor -- (an independent variable in statistics)
7. gene, cistron, factor -- ((genetics) a segment of DNA that is involved in producing a polypeptide
chain; it can include regions preceding and following the coding DNA as well as introns between the
exons; it is considered a unit of heredity; "genes were formerly called factors")
Overview of verb factor
The verb factor has 3 senses (first 1 from tagged texts)
1. (2) factor, factor in, factor out -- (resolve into factors; "a quantum computer can factor the
number 15")
2. factor -- (be a contributing factor; "make things factor into a company's profitability")
3. factor, factor in, factor out -- (consider as relevant when making a decision; "You must factor
in the recent developments")
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