Illness experience sharing on personal blogs: a case study of Malaysian breast cancer survivors

Illness experience which was very much a private matter is now increasingly becoming a shared public experience on different public spaces including social media, and other interactive online platform such as personal blogs. Past research has shown that sharing illness experience provides emotion...

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Main Authors: Wan Nur Asyura Wan Adnan, Noor Aireen Ibrahim, Nur’ain Balqis Haladin, Wan Farah Wani Wan Fakhruddin
Format: Article
Language:en
Published: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2019
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/14096/1/36085-114037-1-PB.pdf
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/14096/
http://ejournal.ukm.my/gema/issue/view/1227
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author Wan Nur Asyura Wan Adnan,
Noor Aireen Ibrahim,
Nur’ain Balqis Haladin,
Wan Farah Wani Wan Fakhruddin,
author_facet Wan Nur Asyura Wan Adnan,
Noor Aireen Ibrahim,
Nur’ain Balqis Haladin,
Wan Farah Wani Wan Fakhruddin,
author_sort Wan Nur Asyura Wan Adnan,
building Tun Sri Lanang Library
collection Institutional Repository
content_provider Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
content_source UKM Journal Article Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
description Illness experience which was very much a private matter is now increasingly becoming a shared public experience on different public spaces including social media, and other interactive online platform such as personal blogs. Past research has shown that sharing illness experience provides emotional support which surpasses traditional face to face support. In addition, studies also suggest that online sharing of illness experience can be both therapeutic as well as beneficial for cancer patients. Thus, exploring cancer discourse on media is important in enhancing understanding of the nature and characteristics of cancer discourse as constructed on social media. This is especially important in breast cancer illness, in the Malaysian context in which survival rate remains low due to lack of awareness and reluctance to perform screening. Hence, a total of three personal blogs written by breast cancer survivors from Malaysia were examined in this study. Taking a discourse analytic perspective, this study explored the positions taken by bloggers when constructing their illness experience and how these positions are realised through the different discursive strategies and linguistic devices. The findings provide insights into how breast cancer patients position themselves when they share their illness experience online. Understanding this new form of illness sharing provides an avenue to better understand breast cancer patients’ journey and their struggles, and the different roles relevant parties can play in their own health care management and information.
format Article
id my-ukm.journal.14096
institution Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
language en
publishDate 2019
publisher Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
record_format eprints
spelling my-ukm.journal.140962020-01-31T23:05:21Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/14096/ Illness experience sharing on personal blogs: a case study of Malaysian breast cancer survivors Wan Nur Asyura Wan Adnan, Noor Aireen Ibrahim, Nur’ain Balqis Haladin, Wan Farah Wani Wan Fakhruddin, Illness experience which was very much a private matter is now increasingly becoming a shared public experience on different public spaces including social media, and other interactive online platform such as personal blogs. Past research has shown that sharing illness experience provides emotional support which surpasses traditional face to face support. In addition, studies also suggest that online sharing of illness experience can be both therapeutic as well as beneficial for cancer patients. Thus, exploring cancer discourse on media is important in enhancing understanding of the nature and characteristics of cancer discourse as constructed on social media. This is especially important in breast cancer illness, in the Malaysian context in which survival rate remains low due to lack of awareness and reluctance to perform screening. Hence, a total of three personal blogs written by breast cancer survivors from Malaysia were examined in this study. Taking a discourse analytic perspective, this study explored the positions taken by bloggers when constructing their illness experience and how these positions are realised through the different discursive strategies and linguistic devices. The findings provide insights into how breast cancer patients position themselves when they share their illness experience online. Understanding this new form of illness sharing provides an avenue to better understand breast cancer patients’ journey and their struggles, and the different roles relevant parties can play in their own health care management and information. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2019-11 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/14096/1/36085-114037-1-PB.pdf Wan Nur Asyura Wan Adnan, and Noor Aireen Ibrahim, and Nur’ain Balqis Haladin, and Wan Farah Wani Wan Fakhruddin, (2019) Illness experience sharing on personal blogs: a case study of Malaysian breast cancer survivors. GEMA: Online Journal of Language Studies, 19 (4). pp. 28-47. ISSN 1675-8021 http://ejournal.ukm.my/gema/issue/view/1227
spellingShingle Wan Nur Asyura Wan Adnan,
Noor Aireen Ibrahim,
Nur’ain Balqis Haladin,
Wan Farah Wani Wan Fakhruddin,
Illness experience sharing on personal blogs: a case study of Malaysian breast cancer survivors
title Illness experience sharing on personal blogs: a case study of Malaysian breast cancer survivors
title_full Illness experience sharing on personal blogs: a case study of Malaysian breast cancer survivors
title_fullStr Illness experience sharing on personal blogs: a case study of Malaysian breast cancer survivors
title_full_unstemmed Illness experience sharing on personal blogs: a case study of Malaysian breast cancer survivors
title_short Illness experience sharing on personal blogs: a case study of Malaysian breast cancer survivors
title_sort illness experience sharing on personal blogs: a case study of malaysian breast cancer survivors
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/14096/1/36085-114037-1-PB.pdf
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/14096/
http://ejournal.ukm.my/gema/issue/view/1227
url_provider http://journalarticle.ukm.my/