Abstract

Abstract
This thesis follows the stories of three main interlocutors who are afflicted by chronic illness. The purpose of this ethnographic research is to shed light on the work that patients do to receive care from their health practitioners. Participants use information technologies to assess whether their needs are being met on their terms, whether their diagnoses are believable and whether they are being taken seriously. I argue that, in the context of managing chronic conditions, it is incumbent upon patients to use every means of information available to them to secure the best outcomes for their health and their futures. However, the use of information is mediated by experience, emotion, positionality and responsibility, all of which impact the ‘best good’ outcome for the patient. As such, information and the act of googling produce a moral practice. In the case of my participants, this moral practice also curbs uncertainty as regards their experience of daily pain.