ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors provide the critical analysis of increased empowerment and explain, based on an empirical study, how patients' role in health care is affected by using health care communication technology. Critical literature has a long tradition in showing how people's organizational identities are constructed through an interplay between regulatory control and identity work. The personal online health communities (POHCs) used by the authors' sample of patients were set up by the Parkinson Net foundation. The authors combine interviews with 18 patients with observations of their POHCs. For the interviews, they used a topic list, which focused on how patients experience the use of their POHC, how they experience their relationship with their health care professionals, and how they experience their role in the care provision process. The POHCs, being the vehicles through which the empowerment is supposed to be organized, present a new regulatory context. The authors also discuss the number of postings, the content of postings and online-offline intersection.
