People with chronic pain or illnesses are often left to cope alone after receiving a diagnosis. While they are aware of their condition, they lack the necessary strategies and contacts to help them cope. Various content can be found online expressing how those affected feel. This ranges from hopeful and pleading posts to sarcastic and angry ones. Some find solace in their faith, some portray themselves as fighters and some show that disabled people can be fashionable too. A more recent development is completely unvarnished insights into the everyday life of a person with health problems. Hospital stays, photos in bed and selfies with dark circles under their eyes show ‘painfluencers’ in moments that would otherwise remain hidden.
What other coping methods can be found? I plan to find them in my research, using netnography, cultural probes and co-design workshops. Using these findings, I intend to create a toolkit to help people with chronic illnesses adapt to their new reality.
Stella Waldvogel
2025