Sham surgery trial controls: perspectives of patients and their relatives.

This study reports on qualitative research conducted in the UK with people with Parkinson's Disease and their relatives on the subject of "sham surgery." It explores attitudes toward sham surgery and reasoning about hypothetical participation in a sham-controlled trial. Results showed that attitudes toward sham surgery may not necessarily predict trial participation behavior.

Using expert patients' narratives as an educational resource.

In this article, we examine the topic of patient participation in health care and report on how we have drawn on the concept of patient expertise to produce a new kind of information booklet for chronic arthritis patients. The booklet is patient-generated and contains the illness narratives of patients with three kinds of arthritis. The booklet draws upon the knowledge of patients who feel they are flourishing despite their condition.

Living well through chronic illness: the relevance of virtue theory to patients with chronic osteoarthritis.

Objective: Virtues and vices possessed by patients may affect their quality of life and how well they cope with disease. The objective of this study is to assess the relevance of the concept of virtue and vice to patients with chronic arthritis.

Methods: Aristotle's theory of virtue and vice was used to construct a guide for in-depth interviews, carried out with 5 patients with chronic osteoarthritis.