Chronic headache : an ecosystemic exploration
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Authors
Rawsthorne, Julie Karen
Issue Date
1998-12
Type
Dissertation
Language
en
Keywords
Chronic headache , Tension headache , Migraine , Somatic symptoms , Social context , Context , Ecosystemic epistemology , Constructivism , Second-order cybernetics , Co-created realities , Qualitative research
Alternative Title
Abstract
Chronic headache may be the most frequently reported
somatic symptom, yet it puzzles health experts and poses a
considerable treatment challenge. It was suggested that this
is because conventional views of headache, adhering to a
Newtonian-Cartesian epistemology, focus almost exclusively on
intrapsychic factors ignoring the wider social context in which
the problem is embedded. An overview of the existing body of
knowledge on the most widely researched headache conditions was
presented, and it was argued that a conceptual shift is
required to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of the
problem.
This study was conducted within an holistic, ecosystemic
epistemology. A qualitative approach employing a case study
method was adopted to provide rich descriptions of the contexts
in which two chronic headache sufferers' symptoms were
embedded. The case study presentations also illustrated the
attempts that were made to intervene into the headache contexts
from a second-order cybernetics stance.
Description
Citation
Rawsthorne, Julie Karen (1998) Chronic headache : an ecosystemic exploration, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/17602>