This study explores the experiences of people with hepatitis C within two models of chronic illness—illness trajectory and shifting perspectives—and examines the effects of clinical markers of disease in relation to perceived health. The findings show some support for both models and suggest how they can be seen as complementary and inter-related. The social consequences of living with hepatitis C, such as potential social limitations and isolation, were more significant and had greater impact than clinical markers of disease progress and should be emphasized in understandings of transformation experiences in chronic illness.
Anti-Discrimination Board of New South Wales . (2001). C-change: Report of the enquiry into hepatitis C related discrimination. Sydney: Anti-Discrimination Board of New South Wales .
2.
Bury, M. (1982). Chronic illness as biographical disruption . Sociology of Health & Illness, 4, 167-181 .
3.
Bury, M. (1991). The sociology of chronic illness: A review of research and prospects . Sociology of Health & Illness, 13, 451-467 .
4.
Ciambrone, D. (2001). Illness and other assaults on the self: The relative impact of HIV/AIDS on women’s lives . Sociology of Health and Illness, 23, 517-540 .
5.
Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care . (2001). National hepatitis C resource manual. Canberra: Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care .
6.
Courtenay, B. , Merriam, S. , Reeves, P. , & Baumgartner, L. (2000). Perspective transformation over time: A 2-year follow-up study of HIV positive adults . Adult Education Quarterly, 50, 102-119 .
7.
Crossley, M. (1998). ‘Sick role’ or ‘empowerment’? The ambiguities of life with an HIV positive diagnosis . Sociology of Health and Illness, 20, 507-531 .
8.
Davis, M. , Hart, G. , Imrie, J. , Davidson, O. , Williams, I. T. , & Stephenson, J. (2002). ‘HIV is HIV to me’: The meanings of treatment, viral load and refinfection for gay men living with HIV . Health, Risk & Society, 4, 31-43 .
9.
Day, C. , Ross, J. , & Dolan, K. (2003). Hepatitis C-related discrimination among heroin users in Sydney: Drug user or hepatitis C discrimination ? Drug and Alcohol Review, 22, 317-321 .
10.
Devins, G. , Beanlands, H. , Mandin, H. , & Paul, L. (1997). Psychosocial impact of illness intrusiveness moderated by self-concept and age in end-stage renal disease . Health Psychology, 16, 529-538 .
11.
Dore, G. (2001a). Initial assessment and clinical monitoring of people with hepatitis C. In N. Crofts , S. Locarnini , & G. Dore (Eds.), Hepatitis C: An Australian perspective (pp. 129-139). Melbourne: IP Communications .
12.
Dore, G. (2001b). Natural history of hepatitis C virus infection. In N. Crofts , G. Dore , & S. Locarnini (Eds.), Hepatitis C: An Australian perspective (pp. 82-100). East Hawthorn: IP Communications .
13.
Dore, G. , Law, M. G. , MacDonald, M. , & Kaldor, J. (2003). Epidemiology of hepatitis C virus infection in Australia . Journal of Clinical Virology, 26, 171-184 .
14.
Faye, B. , & Irurita, V. (2003). Balancing perspective: The response to feelings of being condemned with the hepatitis C virus . Journal of Substance Use, 8, 92-103 .
15.
Finucane, M. , Slovic, P. , & Mertz, C. (2000). Public perception of the risk of blood transfusion . Transfusion, 40, 1017-1022 .
16.
Fraser, S. (2004). ‘It’s your life’: Injecting drug users, individual responsibility and hepatitis C prevention . health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine, 8, 199-221 .
17.
Gifford, S. M. , O’Brien, M. L. , Bammer, G. , Banwell, C. , & Stoove, M. (2003). Australian women’s experiences of living with hepatitis C virus: Results from a cross-sectional survey . Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 18, 841-850 .
18.
Glacken, M. , Kernohan, G. , & Coates, V. (2001). Diagnosed with hepatitis C: A descriptive exploratory study . International Journal of Nursing Studies, 38, 107-116 .
19.
Hepworth, J. , & Krug, G. (1999). Hepatitis C: A socio-cultural perspective on the effects of a new virus on a community’s health . Journal of Health Psychology, 4, 237-246 .
20.
Holt, M. , & Stephenson, N. (2006). Living with HIV and negotiating psychological discourse . health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine, 10, 211-231 .
21.
Hopwood, M. , & Treloar, C. (2003). The 3D project: Diagnosis, disclosure, discrimination and living with hepatitis C. Sydney: National Centre in HIV Social Research .
22.
Hopwood, M. , Treloar, C. , & Bryant, J. (in press). Hepatitis C and injecting-related discrimination within healthcare in New South Wales, Australia . Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy.
23.
Keating, G. , & Curran, M. (2003). Peg-interferon alpha 2a (40Kd) plus ribavirin: A review of its use in the management of chronic hepatitis C . Drugs & Society, 63, 701-730 .
24.
Levine, H. (2003). Global drug prohibition: Its uses and crises . International Journal of Drug Policy, 14, 145-153 .
25.
Lindsey, E. (1996). Health within illness: Experiences of chronically ill/disabled people . Journal of Advanced Nursing, 24, 465-472 .
26.
Mullins, L. , Chaney, J. , Balderson, B. , & Hommel, K. (2000). The relationship of illness uncertainty, illness intrusiveness and asthma severity to depression in young adults with long-standing asthma . International Journal of Rehabilitation and Health, 5, 177-186 .
27.
Paterson, B. (2001). The shifting perspectives model of chronic illness . Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 33, 21-26 .
28.
Paterson, B. (2003). The koala has claws: Applications of the shifting perspectives model in research of chronic illness . Qualitative Health Research, 13, 987-994 .
29.
Paterson, B. , Thorne, S. , Crawford, J. , & Tarko, M. (1999). Living with diabetes as a transformational experience . Qualitative Health Research, 9, 786-802 .
30.
Petersen, A. , & Lupton, D. (1996). The new public health: Health and self in the age of risk. Sydney:Allen & Unwin .
31.
Race, K. (2001). The undetectable crisis: Changing technologies of risk . Sexualities, 4, 167-189 .
32.
Rosengarten, M. , Race, K. , & Kippax, S. (2000). ‘Touch wood, everything will be OK’: Gay men’s understandings of clinical markers in sexual practice. Sydney: National Centre in HIV Social Research, University of New South Wales .
33.
Treloar, C. , & Hopwood, M. (2004). Infection control in the context of hepatitis C disclosure: Implications for education of health professionals . Education for Health, 17, 183-191 .
34.
Van de Ven, P. , Mao, L. , Fogarty, A. , Rawstorne, P. , Crawford, J. , Prestage, G.et al. (2004). Reported undetectable viral load is associated with sexual risk taking in HIV serodiscordant gay couples in Sydney. Sydney: National Centre in HIV Social Research .
35.
Waldby, C. , Rosengarten, M. , Treloar, C. , & Fraser, S. (2004). Blood and bioidentity: Ideas about self, boundaries and risk among blood donors and people living with hepatitis C . Social Science & Medicine, 59, 1461-1471 .
36.
Wilkinson, S. , & Kitzinger, C. (2000). Thinking differently about thinking positive: A discursive approach to cancer patients’ talk . Social Science & Medicine, 50, 797-811 .
37.
Zickmund, S. , Ho, E. , Masuda, M. , Ippolito, L. , & LaBrecque, D. (2003). ‘They treated me like a leper’: Stigmatization and the quality of life of patients with hepatitis C . Journal of General Internal Medicine, 18, 835-844 .
