ABSTRACT
The Shifting Perspectives Model is a model of chronic illness that arose from the synthesis of qualitative research findings. This model allows users to extend the contributions of previous attempts to describe the experience of chronic illness, and offer new understanding about why people with chronic illness may manifest behaviours that at first glance seem ill-advised and even harmful. Many paradoxes that occur in living
with a chronic illness, as well as some unintended outcomes when people with chronic illness attempt to use the health care system, are revealed.
