‘We needed to change the mission statement of the marriage’: biographical disruptions, appraisals and revisions among couples living with endometriosis

Nicky Hudson, Lorraine Culley, Caroline Law, Helene Mitchell, Elaine Denny, Nick Raine-Fenning, Nick Raine‐Fenning
Sociology of health & illness · 2015 · vol. 38(5) , pp. 721–735 · doi:10.1111/1467-9566.12392 · PMID:26679773 · W2201885215
article OA: bronze CC0 ⤵ 45 in-corpus citations
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This qualitative study explored how endometriosis disrupts couples' lives, examining how they appraised these disruptions and revised their expectations regarding intimacy, family planning, and social and work lives.

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Abstract

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.

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Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Chronic Disease Endometriosis Family Characteristics Self Concept Adult Chronic Disease Endometriosis Female Humans Interviews as Topic Life Change Events Male Marriage Qualitative Research

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (56)

Cited by (45)

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