In my PhD I inquire how laypeople, who struggle with long-term health-issues, employ social media as a means of seeking information about their illnesses and coping with their situation. As part of my fieldwork I study how people discuss their symptoms, challenges and opportunities for treatment with fellow sufferers online, for example in Facebook-based communities. I do also study how people relate to and employ in their daily lives the knowledge that these online communities convey. This relates to the questions of how (patient) identity is co-constructed/negotiated digitally and how digital media users interact with (or refrain from interacting with) the healthcare system. Put differently, in my research I seek to draw a picture of digital health culture and ways of patienting in the digital age.
