“Networked Patients”: study on sickness behavior under Internet environment

Chinese Journal of Journalism & Communication ›› 2019, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (7) : 41-58.

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PDF(9017 KB)
Chinese Journal of Journalism & Communication ›› 2019, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (7) : 41-58.

“Networked Patients”: study on sickness behavior under Internet environment

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Abstract

Since our society networked increasingly and deeply, people not only changed their methods for health information and medical seeking, but also changed their illness experiences. This paper took the “latent infective patients” (“Yinzizheng”) Internet Event as an example and gave it an anthropological analysis. It took the disease as a cultural translation process, and divided it into 5 main stages: physiological signs, symptoms, disease experience, disease identification, symptoms Interpretation and physical signs. This study found that the social availability/affordance of the network not only provides patients with a very rich medical health information, but also provides more possibility that patients share their experiences of sickness. The so-called "networked patients" emphasized on the identity of the patient who is primarily recognized through the Internet, which is decreasingly embedded in the social group but increasingly becoming networked individuals with health identity.

Key words

Health communication / “Latent infective patients”(“Yinzizheng”) / AIDS Phobia / Networked public / Networked individual

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“Networked Patients”: study on sickness behavior under Internet environment[J]. Chinese Journal of Journalism & Communication. 2019, 41(7): 41-58
PDF(9017 KB)

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