ABSTRACT
In contrast to social-positivist researchers, who are keen to identify the social causes of ill-health and well-being, interactionists are more interested in what it means to be healthy, what it means to be diseased, and what it means to be ill. For them, the most basic human qualities are those associated with interaction, communication, and, above all, meaninggiving. People construct understandings of themselves and of others out of the experiences they have and the situations they find themselves in. These understandings have consequences in turn for the way in which people act, and the manner in which others react to them.
