An Institutional Ethnography of Living with and Managing Multiple Sclerosis

摘要

Using an institutional ethnographic approach, this research explores the everyday experiences of women living with Multiple Sclerosis and the work they do to understand and manage their illness. Starting with the women's own accounts of their everyday experiences with MS, this research analyzes and explicates the social relations that are involved in their everyday taken-for-granted lifework. An exploration of the ruling institutions coordinating with the everyday work of these women provides insight to some of the struggles and problems people with MS encounter. This project explicates and problematizes the disjuncture between the actual lived experience of having MS and the biomedical institution's authority over the illness.