Congratulations to Carol Ellis for passing PhD viva

Our current student Carol Ellis has passed her PhD viva last week. Congratulations! The thesis is titled "A sociological exploration of systemic lupus erythermatosus in Ireland" and was supervised by Dr. Paul Stokes.


Below is an abstract of Carol's PhD dissertation:

"Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE/lupus) is a trending chronic illness. Prior to this research, there has been no sociological exploration of lupus in Ireland. SLE is a chronic multisystem autoimmune disease that predominantly affects women during their child-bearing years. The study provides insight into the subjective experience of the individual with lupus analysing how this chronic illness impacts their identity. To address this, the background literature explores identity and stigmatisation. From the commencement of symptoms, learning to live with a chronic illness involves the adoption of the crisis model or the negotiation model. Two principles emerged as the main factors in influencing which model individuals with lupus chose, the doctor-patient relationship and health education. These two factors were linked to management techniques. Individuals have to cope with the psychosocial problems generated by chronic disease and must manage daily living according to their financial and social conditions.

Emergent Social Determinants of Health (ESDH) is a proposed concept for scenarios when an individual may not have been affected by inequities before their disease emerged, but inequities have since developed and impacted life quality. The illness experience can be transforming because life becomes characterised by change. Self-management refers to the skills and behaviours a person needs to maintain functioning in the context of their lives. These skills and behaviours enable the individual to deal with what chronic illness entails; symptoms, treatment, physical and social consequences, and lifestyle changes.

SLE is a complex chronic illness chosen for this research due to the ambiguity surrounding it mainly as a result of lack of social awareness and the arduous diagnosis process. The negotiation of identity is an area to be explored analysing the process of ‘coming out’ with SLE focusing on the perception of the illness itself. The article outlines overcoming barriers and developing and implementing strategies to result in the individual becoming part of the social whole. The thesis notes that the Irish State needs to recognise the benefits of and introduce self-management programmes, but first, it is essential that the State prioritise maintaining the individuals’ standard of living and identity during the illness by the person learning to adapt and acculture to their new identity by addressing ESDH. Overall, the thesis notes that education is a necessity for optimal disease control."