From my understanding, discourse analysis is a process of analysing written documents or transcripts of speech from a social practice perspective. The analysis involves examining semantics, language, tone etc and deducing the motive and values of the writer and the message that is being constructed for the audience. In the context of illness, these methods can allow the exploration of the social lived experience and the role of knowledge and power e.g. in relation to policy.
http://ukpmc.ac.uk/articles/PMC1853092/pdf/1471-2474-8-34.pdf
The study (link above) uses discourse analysis to see how Osteoarthritis (OA) is constructed by exploring patient information leaflets. The authors examined 6 leaflets from a variety of sources and extracted themes. They found that the discourse of OA as a biomedical disease was dominant in all the leaflets.
Understanding of Health and Illness
- The professional response to a mismatch between medical evidence and behaviours leads to desire to educate rather than understand the peoples’ experiences of illness.
- Patient education leaflets appear to offer a biomedical narrative of OA which is at odds with policy guidance on self management and living with a chronic illness which would draw more on personal experiences and social factors. People do not have information regarding these aspects of health and illness.
