Premium
‘We needed to change the mission statement of the marriage’: biographical disruptions, appraisals and revisions among couples living with endometriosis
Author(s) -
Hudson Nicky,
Culley Lorraine,
Law Caroline,
Mitchell Helene,
Denny Elaine,
RaineFenning Nick
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
sociology of health and illness
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1467-9566
pISSN - 0141-9889
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9566.12392
Subject(s) - foregrounding , scrutiny , context (archaeology) , psychology , face (sociological concept) , qualitative research , social constructionism , sociology , social psychology , reinterpretation , perspective (graphical) , developmental psychology , gender studies , social science , aesthetics , paleontology , philosophy , linguistics , artificial intelligence , political science , computer science , law , biology
The concept of biographical disruption has been widely applied in sociological explorations of chronic illness and has been subject to much theoretical scrutiny, reflection and development. However, little attention has been given to the impact of biographical disruption beyond the individual level. This article explores the concept from a dyadic perspective, utilising data from an exploratory, qualitative study ( ENDOPART ) that investigated the impact of endometriosis on women and their male partners. In total, 22 couples participated in in‐depth, semi‐structured, face‐to‐face interviews. The women and their partners were interviewed separately and, in most cases, simultaneously, by different interviewers. Data analysis was informed by an interpretivist relational approach, foregrounding the meanings participants applied to their experiences, treating interviews as accounts, and exploring partners’ accounts in relation to one another. Two analytic approaches generated several themes for exploration in the context of the concept of biographical disruption: sex and intimacy; planning for and having children; working lives and social lives. The article argues that biographical disruptions are social and inter‐relational processes and discusses how couples living with endometriosis negotiated these disruptions, how they were appraised and how lives and expectations were revised as a result.