Renal Failure: Toward a Sociocultural Investigation of an Illness

Abstract

The goal of this research was to understand life with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Medical practice, based in biomedicine, focuses on physical aspects of illness. A sociocultural case studies approach was used to develop a "situated" understanding of life for 4 people with ESRD. This research revealed that life with ESRD is work. The collaborative engagement in this work is overlooked by biomedical studies that focus on illness as a physical condition of individuals. Medical knowledge is argued to be epistemically deficient in it's failure to consider the 3 critical sources of knowledge: practitioners, participants, and participants' significant others. This research identifies the need for a bridge between the home world and the hospital world, creating a broader community of practice.