Communication Work About Chronic Unexplained Pain

Abstract

This essay draws upon Donovan’s conceptualization of “communication as work” to explicate types of communicative work undertaken by the authors–two patients with vulvodynia, a poorly understood chronic genital pain condition–during patient–provider interactions prior to diagnosis. Uniquely positioned as patients-turned-scholars, we extend the rich construct of “communication work” by narrating the types of communicative work undertaken ourselves as patients communicating within a stigmatized health context for which a clear diagnosis is often ambiguous or unable to be reached. Donovan notes that conditions with a high degree of uncertainty and ambiguity have the capacity to shift the nature of talk. This brief essay illustrates the ways in which the nature of patient–provider communication work is shifted by the ambiguity of this health context. Theoretical and practical implications are briefly offered.