Emerging Adult Women with Chronic Pain: A Narrative Inquiry
Date
2022-03
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Abstract
Women are disproportionately affected by chronic pain, yet women’s pain is frequently discounted or underestimated by medical professionals. Emerging adult women are at higher risk for insufficient pain management and face unique challenges navigating chronic illness, dating, body image, college, careers, establishing independence from family, and bearing children at an age where youth is equated to being healthy. An increasing prevalence in chronic pain has been observed across all age groups in Canada, most notably among those aged 20 to 29 with no other health conditions, yet few qualitative studies examine chronic pain exclusively in women under 30. The purpose of this narrative inquiry was to understand how the experience of living with chronic pain affects the identity of emerging adult women aged 18 to 29. Clandinin and Connelly’s (2000) form of narrative inquiry was used to explore the lived and told stories of two emerging adult women living with chronic pain, gaining a deeper understanding of how their experiences shape, and are shaped by, social, cultural, familial, and institutional narratives. Data were generated through composition of field texts that included in-depth conversational interviews and field journal writing. Participant artwork, poetry, and writing were also used for data generation and data analysis. Transitioning from field texts to research texts, narrative accounts were then co-composed with research participants. Narrative threads that resonated across narrative accounts include: silenced, invisible, and locating self with pain; pain experiences storied through relationships; and resisting the singular stories of people living with chronic pain. Personal, practical, and social significance of this work are discussed with implications for nursing practice, health education, research, and policy before concluding with final reflections.
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Keywords
chronic pain, emerging adult, women's health, young adult, women, emerging adult women, narrative inquiry, qualitative, narrative
Citation
Finlay, J. (2022). Emerging adult women with chronic pain: a narrative inquiry (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.