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Redemption Or Contamination: Reviewing The Illness Narratives Of The Chronically Sick And Their Support Systems, Allison R. Dearing

Honors Theses

Chronically sick individuals deal with pain on a daily basis, which can lower their quality of life and make it more difficult. Illness narratives or “sickness stories” have been known to help people place illness in their lives. Support systems are a factor that could influence individuals’ illness narratives to lead them towards a redemption or contamination sequence. In this study, I interviewed twenty-five women with endometriosis and asked them questions regarding their health status, illness narratives, and support systems. The interviews were reviewed and categorized between redemptive and contamination sequences.The support systems influence on the sequence were also reviewed …