Public Conveniences, Private Matters: Retrospective Narration of Adolescent Daily Life with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

This study specifically investigates the experiences of young people, and their
management of everyday living alongside the demands of Inflammatory Bowel
Disease (IBD). In life-story interviews, 20 adults aged 20-25 years, diagnosed
with IBD during adolescence related their experiences of growing up with
IBD, providing examples of adolescent life issues.
Participants presented many accounts introducing different perspectives of
living publicity and privately with a chronic illness. This paper examines
expressions of public and private experience that can be found within this
dataset. Three emergent issues are discussed: the public environment, the
nature of protection and of being protected, and the private self alongside the
external bodily self.
These accounts demonstrate a need for further longitudinal research to be
conducted into the experiences of young people and how they narrate their
experiences of everyday life with IBD prospectively, using diary methods and
further interviews.