Communication About Urinary Tract Infections: Communicative (Dis)enfranchisement Meets Privacy Management

Abstract

More than half of women will experience a urinary tract infection (UTI) in their lifetime. Despite the prevalence of this illness, information about UTIs may be considered private, and some women may find it difficult to seek care and support while managing a UTI. The theory of Communication Privacy Management (CPM) explains why individuals decide to open or close a boundary around the private information. A second, novel theory in health communication, the Theory of Communicative Disenfranchisement (TCD), explicates how communication deprives individuals of their rights and privileges through disenfranchising talk (DT). The current study leverages these two frameworks to examine how DT informs privacy boundary management among women who have experienced a UTI, either enabling or constraining their access to care and support across contexts of the workplace, clinical communication, friendships, and romantic relationships. Semi-structured interviews reveal a privacy management system that draws on various catalyst and core rule criteria informed by enactments of (dis)enfranchising talk. The (im)material consequences of DT have the potential to inform understanding of CPM and TCD as well as improve interpersonal communication about UTIs.