The Imitation Game as a Method for Exploring Knowledge(s) of Chronic Illness

• Main Authors: Robert Evans, Helen Crocker?
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publishing 2013-04-01
• Series: Methodological Innovations
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.4256/mio.2013.003

Medical sociology has traditionally contrasted the bio-medical knowledge of healthcare professionals with the socially situated knowledge possessed by patients. These differences are particularly important in chronic conditions where patients can develop highly sophisticated understandings of their disease and its symptoms. In this paper we use a novel research method – The Imitation Game – to explore how far the experiential knowledge of patients can be appreciated and understood by medical professionals. We examine the extent to which professional dietitians were able to reproduce the discourse of people diagnosed with coeliac disease and show that dietitians were able to ‘pass' as patients with coeliac disease but that a control group of lay people could not. We also briefly explore the domains of knowledge in which dietitians tended to be more or less successful and reflect on the utility of the research for medical sociology and the training of healthcare professionals.