Rhetoric, health, and contested illness
My work examines how the language of patient empowerment shapes the care of people with chronic, contested conditions — and how scholars and practitioners can navigate medical uncertainty more collaboratively.
Now recruiting
PARTICIPANTS NEEDED
Healthcare provider communication study
I’m conducting a new study on how healthcare providers’ experiences — both with patients and as patients themselves — shape their approach to patient-provider communication. I hope that listening to providers’ stories will offer insight into how patients can build trusting, respectful relationships with their doctors, nurses, and other health professionals.
WHO CAN PARTICIPATE
- Doctors (MD/DO), NPs, PAs, specialty nurses, or holistic doctors
- Age 18+
- Comfortable speaking in English
WHAT’S INVOLVED
- One 1-hour interview
- On Zoom or in person, your choice of location
or text 919-438-3026
UCF IRB #STUDY00009092 · Approved April 7, 2026
Monograph
University of South Carolina Press · 2026
The Patient Empowerment Paradox: Lyme Disease Rhetoric and Contested Health Literacies
This book offers a new framework for understanding why arguments keep patients and their healthcare providers ensnared in debates about individual healthcare choices instead of working collaboratively on effective care. Using a mixed-methods approach, I follow the consequences of patient empowerment rhetoric on Chronic Lyme disease patients, showing how quickly patients become entangled in medical power dynamics, misinformation, and decision fatigue. The findings can help scholars and practitioners better navigate medical uncertainty around other chronic, contested conditions such as Long COVID and ME/CFS.
Sarah Singer, Ph.D. 