An application of the transactional model to the analysis of chronic illness narratives

Abstract

The authors' aim in this study was to describe the chronic illness experience and its relationship to the concept to finding meaning. They conducted interviews using a narrative approach with 15 adults experiencing various chronic illnesses and analyzed narrative data using a combination of holistic-content and categorical-content approaches. The three major categories were the context of the chronic illness experience, personal reactions, and coping efforts. These categories were best interpreted in terms of a transactional model. The authors categorized finding meaning under cognitive coping strategies and described it as a strategy that was part of a larger coping repertoire.