{"id":273,"date":"2017-09-04T19:01:27","date_gmt":"2017-09-04T19:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medicalrhetoric.com\/symposium2017\/?page_id=273"},"modified":"2018-05-31T15:18:35","modified_gmt":"2018-05-31T15:18:35","slug":"ben-sword","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/medicalrhetoric.com\/symposium2017\/profiles\/ben-sword\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Sword"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BenTitle:\u00a0<\/strong>Assistant Professor<\/p>\n

University:\u00a0<\/strong>Tarleton State University<\/p>\n

Email:\u00a0<\/strong>Sword@Tarleton.edu<\/p>\n

Twitter:\u00a0<\/strong>DocSword<\/p>\n

Website:\u00a0<\/strong>N\/A<\/p>\n

Description of Work:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Currently, I\u2019m involved in a collaborative endeavor\u00a0with a colleague (Dr. Katrina Hinson) at my university that examines how narrative\u00a0shapes agency in illness related social media groups in Facebook.<\/p>\n

My other scholarly work includes issues in Disability Studies and Disability Rhetoric.<\/p>\n

Symposium Submission:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Agency, Power and Facebook Support Group Narratives\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The purpose of this project is to examine the role of narrative in social media (specifically Facebook) as it pertains to establishing patient agency and potentially redefining many of the labels and constructions surrounding chronic illness. \u202f\u202fThis study\u00a0examines five illness related Facebook groups associated with life threatening blood clotting events such as a pulmonary embolism (PE), deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or both, a venous thrombolytic event (VTE)\u00a0over a\u00a012 month\u00a0period beginning July 2016 and ending in June 2017. This long period of study\u00a0provides\u00a0ample data to explore and identify how such groups facilitate defining\/redefining PE\/DVT\/VTE survivorship. In addition to the ethnographic data gained through observation of these 5 groups, interviews were scheduled with 6 individuals\u00a0across all 5 groups and a survey was completed by 126 people also from across all 5 groups.<\/p>\n

Such in-depth analysis of interactions occurring through social media support groups reveals a number of important insights regarding the role of social media in shaping the crafting of patient narrative.\u00a0\u00a0Narrative does more than serve\u202fas an avenue for \u2018venting\u2019 and seeking emotional support. Narrative also provides agency, identity, and legitimacy to those who are marginalized or those whose voices have been repressed by societal conventions or constructions.\u00a0\u00a0Members share their individual stories, symptoms,\u202fand treatment regimens\u00a0in an effort to understand, to gain knowledge, and therefore have power over the illness rather than the illness controlling them. As a result of their individual involvement in\u202fan\u202fillness\u202frelated social media\u202fgroup, participants have the potential for transformative agency to affect the quality of health care and a change in institutional practices that promote\u202fpeople being actively involved in the\u00a0decision making\u00a0processes involving their care rather than maintaining a role of passivity and quiescence (B\u00e8Hague\u202fet al., 2008, p. 491).<\/p>\n

Narratives created through social media use associated with individual care certainly warrant\u00a0further exploration. A significant amount of research has already been devoted to the role of social media in the shaping of social constructions of\u00a0illness and\u00a0disability. Scholars have chosen to devote time and resources to the study of social media based on the\u00a0awareness that advancements in technology allow individuals to\u202fmore readily interact, to more quickly discover information and to more quickly disseminate knowledge (Park et al., 2009; Pi et al., 2013; Yu et al., 2009; Griffiths et al., 2012;\u202fBagayogo\u202fet al., 2014;\u202fMerolli\u202fet al., 2013; Weiss et al., 2013; Potts, 2014).\u00a0However, while the institutional power of the medical professional has been, and perhaps continues to be, the primary force in shaping modern ideas about illness\u00a0and disability, patient narratives created through and shared through social media support groups\u00a0may\u00a0challenge the physician as \u2018expert\u2019 and may even privilege the narrative in\/of\u00a0the support group because it is lived experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Title:\u00a0Assistant Professor University:\u00a0Tarleton State University Email:\u00a0Sword@Tarleton.edu Twitter:\u00a0DocSword Website:\u00a0N\/A Description of Work: Currently, I\u2019m involved in a collaborative endeavor\u00a0with a colleague (Dr. Katrina Hinson) at my university that examines how narrative\u00a0shapes … Continue reading “Ben Sword”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":2,"menu_order":50,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-273","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicalrhetoric.com\/symposium2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicalrhetoric.com\/symposium2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicalrhetoric.com\/symposium2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicalrhetoric.com\/symposium2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicalrhetoric.com\/symposium2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/medicalrhetoric.com\/symposium2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":800,"href":"https:\/\/medicalrhetoric.com\/symposium2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/273\/revisions\/800"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicalrhetoric.com\/symposium2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicalrhetoric.com\/symposium2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}