Body-as-information: Learning to listen to the body in the context of chronic illness

Abstract

During the course of an illness, people may come to learn things about their bodies that they did not previously understand. This poster explores how one group of patients with a chronic illness, fibromyalgia, learned to listen to their bodies over time. This work is part of a larger qualitative study of fibromyalgia patients’ illness journeys. Becoming more attuned to their bodies enabled participants to manage their condition better, including the impact it had on the rest of their lives. This poster also describes ways in which fibromyalgia patients acquire knowledge about how to utilize their bodies as physiological information, and considers how information services, resources and tools could be improved to facilitate the process.