Stanford interviews

Last weekend we conducted our second set of interviews with the Stanford juvenile arthritis patients. All the interviews were in the teens’ homes and each teen had a friend present. We talked about their views on health and well-being, social activities, use of technology, and listened to what the important things were in their lives. We saw that each teen had a different relationship with their illness; some being more defined by it than others. Some didn’t mention their illness at all. One thing we heard repeatedly is how their illness made them feel old in some way. One teen called her weekly pill organizer her “old lady pill container.” Another said she was a little kid living in an 80 year old’s body. We see that there needs to be a better way for them to define their health in teen terms.