Projects per year
Abstract
The pharmaceuticalisation of sleep is a contentious issue. Sleep medicines get a ‘bad press’ due to their potential for dependence and other side effects, including studies reporting increased mortality risks for long‐term users. Yet relatively little qualitative social science research has been conducted into how people understand and negotiate their use/non‐use of sleep medicines in the context of their everyday lives. This paper draws on focus group data collected in the UK to elicit collective views on and experiences of prescription hypnotics across different social contexts. Respondents, we show, drew on a range of moral repertoires which allowed them to present themselves and their relationships with hypnotics in different ways. Six distinct repertoires about hypnotic use are identified in this regard: the ‘deserving’ patient, the ‘responsible’ user, the ‘compliant’ patient, the ‘addict’, the ‘sinful’ user and the ‘noble’ non user. These users and non‐users are constructed drawing on cross‐cutting themes of addiction and control, ambivalence and reflexivity. Such issues are in turn discussed in relation to recent sociological debates on the pharmaceuticalisation/de‐pharmaceuticalisation of everyday life and the consumption of medicines in the UK today.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 627-644 |
Number of pages | 18 |
Journal | Sociology of Health and Illness |
Volume | 38 |
Issue number | 4 |
Early online date | 20 Nov 2015 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - May 2016 |
Keywords
- Pharmaceuticalisation
- sleep medicines
- moral repertoires
- focus groups
Projects
- 1 Finished
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The Pharmaceuticalisation of Sleep and Wakefulness: A Social Scientific Investigation of Stakeholders Interests, Policies and Practices
Gabe, J., Williams, S. & Abraham, J.
Economic & Social Res Coun ESRC
1/04/11 → 1/10/13
Project: Research