1. |
|
|
2. |
|
|
3. |
|
|
4. |
- Bellander, Theres, 1977-, et al.
(author)
-
Becoming the expert constructing health knowledge in epistemic communities online
- 2020
-
In: Information, Communication and Society. - : Routledge. - 1369-118X .- 1468-4462. ; 23:4, s. 507-522
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- From a discourse analytic framework, the article analyses health blogs and patient’s forum discussions in which parents to children with congenital heart defects recontextualize medical professional knowledge and share their own experiences. The study show how the two types of online media may serve as a means for parents to attain expert status in their own case by sharing lay knowledge expressed as an amalgamation of the two key perspectives – professional and experienced – as an indivisible unit. Monological discourses, such as narrating, in blogs and more direct and immediate responses in forum discussions are noted as examples of differences in how medical facts are explained and negotiated, how advice is provided and how patient expertise is created. The study also show how blogs and especially forum discussions are used to problematize the validity of actions and opinions of medical staff. The role of developing patient expertise in epistemic communities online may therefore come with a risk of spreading misrepresentation of medical cases.
|
|
5. |
- Bellander, Theres, 1977-
(author)
-
Bloggens roll för hälsolitteracitet och kunskapsbyggande i informationssamhället : En genreanalys av strukturella och språkliga mönster i bloggar om barn med hjärtfelsdiagnos
- 2016
-
In: RASK. - 0909-8976. ; :44, s. 129-159
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Blog's Role for Health Literacy and Knowledge Formation in the Information Society – A Genre Analysis of Structural and Linguistic Patterns in Blogs on Children with Congenital Heart defects The article explores how genres used on blogs can express certain kinds of knowledge by analysing how parents to children with congenital heart defects use patient blogs. Genre analysis (Martin & Rose 2008) is performed in order to investigate the blog format. The survey shows that the blog content may be regarded as a narrative macro genre that brings a certain framework for the blog as a resource for knowledge formation. The blog format also provides bloggers a well-used opportunity to, within the blog, make their own choices of genre structures and to make shifts between genres. This enables shifts between experience based content and general medical facts, which may work as a resource to gain health literacy.
|
|
6. |
- Bellander, Theres, 1977-, et al.
(author)
-
Building health knowledge online : Parents’ online information searching on congenital heart defects
- 2017
-
In: Literacy and Numeracy Studies. - : UTS ePress. - 1441-0559 .- 1839-2903. ; 25:1, s. 4-19
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The study examines online searching as a digital health literacy practice and focuses on parents of children with congenital heart defects. Over the period of four years, we have conducted interviews with couples at different stages of pregnancy or parenthood and have encouraged them to reflect on their literacy practices when receiving a heart defect diagnosis, during the remaining time of their pregnancy and when living with a child with a heart defect. We have also read and analysed health blogs written by parents and focused on extracts where literacy events are described. Searching for information and support online is one of the most frequent practices amongst the participants in the study. The aim of this paper is therefore to highlight the complexity of looking for information online in order to take health decisions and provide care to a child with congenital illness. Based on what parents say they do when searching online, we focus on three main paths to knowledge: looking for medical facts, looking for other parents’ experiences and looking for practical information. We discuss digital health literacy practices as complex activities that often involve parents in the diagnosis and in the child’s medical care to such an extent that parents build up knowledge and become experts, not only in finding information and support but in talking and writing about their child’s illness. We also problematise the notion of trustworthy health information and show how facts and opinions often go hand in hand in platforms where health issues are discussed. Finally, we show some of the affordances and restrictions inherent in using the internet as a source for meaning making and learning about children’s health. The results reinforce our understanding of the socially framed nature of health literacy and make us focus on the digital as an additional important aspect in the practice of health literacy.
|
|
7. |
- Bellander, Theres
(author)
-
"Det var ju ett absolut måste att skaffa sig en dator" : Digitala mediers plats och roll i ålderspensionärers vardag
- 2012
-
Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This report presents a study of elderly people’s participation in the digital society. The aim is to identify and describe why and for which purposes pensioners use computers and mobile phones. Furthermore, the interactional analysis used in the study aims to complement previous results from quantitative surveys by paying attention to elderly persons’ self-image, attitudes and perceptions of the digitalized society. Questions discussed are what paths elders to take to use IT, what elderly people do with digital technology, and how they perceive their place and role in the digital society.The data analyzed consist of recorded interviews with 22 pensioners, aged 66–87. The participants are men and women from different social and professional backgrounds. What they have in common is that they all use computers and mobile phones in their daily life. The participants’ age is central to the investigation and time is an important theme in the report. A now and a then is constructed and made relevant in the stories that the participants tell. The stories contain elements that highlight the development of society and of change that has affected individuals.Possible reasons for not using digital media are physical problems, such as bad motor skills, impaired sight or hearing, lack of knowledge of English and not having been introduced to the media while they were still working. Even though these problems are common among the participants, they all seem to find ways to manage digital technologies.The investigation sheds light on how digital media is involved in the pensioners’ every day activities. All participants use computers and mobile phones to interact with friends and family and to participate in social activities on and outside the Internet. They all claim that they write more often than they did before they had access to computers, and that the types of text they write vary more. They also claim that they read the news more often and that they take a more active role in public debates. Using digital media is, therefore, considered a way to extend the so-called third age.
|
|
8. |
|
|
9. |
- Bellander, Theres, 1977-
(author)
-
Fleeing as an Activity of Waiting : Visual Representations of the World’s Refugee Situation on Médecins Sans Frontière Sweden’s Website
- 2022
-
In: The Journal of Refugee Studies. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0951-6328 .- 1471-6925. ; 35:1, s. 310-330
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This article uses social-semiotic methods to explore how the world’s refugee situation is constructed discursively in photographs on the Médecins Sans Frontière (MSF) Sweden website in order to discern what discourses humanitarian aid communication draws upon to frame the world’s refugee situation as being worthy of support. The main conclusion of the study is that the refugee situation is portrayed as an activity of waiting, where forcibly displaced people are restrained from continuing on with their lives. By highlighting personal experiences, the phenomenon of flight is humanised: Refugees are constructed in need of support, and MSF is constructed as actionable and trustworthy. Focus is then drawn to the organisation’s medical knowledge, and potential donors, i.e. the website’s visitors, are invited to become a part of and to engage in the life of the refugees and the work performed by the organisation. Combining different styles of appealing in the imagery draws on discourses of morality, solidarity, ethical and gender equality.
|
|
10. |
- Bellander, Theres, 1977-
(author)
-
Gammalt möter nytt : En analys av ålderspensionärers digitala skriftpraktiker
- 2014
-
In: Vernacular Literacies. - Umeå : Umeå University, Royal Skyttean Society. - 9789188466860 ; , s. 59-75
-
Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper presents a study of four elderly people’s use of computers in vernacular literacy practices (Heath 1999:200; Barton 2007:35–37). Two men and two women from different social and professional backgrounds have participated in the study and the data analyzed consist of participant logs and recorded interviews. The aim is to identify and describe what the participants are doing with their computers. Questions discussed are how participation in digital literacy practices may be connected to age and social situation and what importance experiences from earlier non-digital literacy practices have for elderly people’s use of computers today. Results are, inter alia, that the participants use digital and non-digital tools simultaneously in their vernacular literacy practices, that long-time practices have taken new forms due to digitalization and that new practices have emerged due to digitalization. The study shows examples of how literacy is in constant change and how modern technology add new possibilities to social practices (Barton 2007:50). Users earlier experiences together with their new needs and wishes, due to technology, are constantly reshaping literacy practices.
|
|