TY - JOUR
T1 - Embodying health identities
T2 - A study of young people with asthma
AU - Monaghan, Lee F.
AU - Gabe, Jonathan
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd.
PY - 2016/7/1
Y1 - 2016/7/1
N2 - The embodiment of health identities is a growing area of interest. Questions posed in this literature include: how important is the body in our understandings/experiences of health, how are everyday definitions of health and self embodied despite chronic illness, and how do social relations influence these interpretations? Mindful of such questions, this paper draws on a qualitative study of mild to moderate asthma among young people in Ireland. In-depth interviews were undertaken with 31 respondents aged between 5 and 17, including boys (n = 15) and girls (n = 16) from different class and ethnic backgrounds. Core themes included: the importance of play, physical activity and sport; diet/nutrition; and physical appearance. Asthma sometimes presented challenges in relation to specific domains, notably strenuous physical activity, though in many other respects its potential impact was discursively minimised. Attentive to various modalities of the lived body, we illustrate how health identities are negotiated among young people diagnosed with a chronic illness. Connections are also made with the sociology of childhood and (ill) health, which views young people as active agents.
AB - The embodiment of health identities is a growing area of interest. Questions posed in this literature include: how important is the body in our understandings/experiences of health, how are everyday definitions of health and self embodied despite chronic illness, and how do social relations influence these interpretations? Mindful of such questions, this paper draws on a qualitative study of mild to moderate asthma among young people in Ireland. In-depth interviews were undertaken with 31 respondents aged between 5 and 17, including boys (n = 15) and girls (n = 16) from different class and ethnic backgrounds. Core themes included: the importance of play, physical activity and sport; diet/nutrition; and physical appearance. Asthma sometimes presented challenges in relation to specific domains, notably strenuous physical activity, though in many other respects its potential impact was discursively minimised. Attentive to various modalities of the lived body, we illustrate how health identities are negotiated among young people diagnosed with a chronic illness. Connections are also made with the sociology of childhood and (ill) health, which views young people as active agents.
KW - Asthma
KW - Chronic illness
KW - Embodiment
KW - Health
KW - Ireland
KW - Young people
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84966701566&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.05.013
DO - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.05.013
M3 - Article
C2 - 27192143
AN - SCOPUS:84966701566
SN - 0277-9536
VL - 160
SP - 1
EP - 8
JO - Social Science and Medicine
JF - Social Science and Medicine
ER -