Adjusting professional lives in the context of chronic disease: The case of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Type de matériel :
71
Measuring the impact of chronic disease on social interactions and roles implies considering work above all, given that it is the main environment where social involvement is needed. Our aim is to analyze the specific impact of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) on work, considering two aspects: job retention and the concrete achievement of professional duties. The experience of COPD at work is revealed by the analysis of 69 interviews with hospital patients. This experience appears problematic for workers: it represents progressive, diffuse phenomena, which people with COPD are not even always aware of. It is above all an experience of decreasing work capacities, leading them to implement multiple adjustments —mainly informal— enabling them to cope and behave as if nothing was going on, in order to ensure that a professional activity remains compatible with the evolution of abilities.
Réseaux sociaux