Friskvård i ett diskursperspektiv
The term ?health maintenance? was introduced in the 1960?s. A common conception nowadays is that health maintenance is always beneficial. Gestaldo (1997) meant that health education on one hand could give the individual a feeling of autonomy, but on the other hand also put the individual in an inferior position where the teacher represented ?the truth?. How are we influenced by health maintenance? Which consequences does it have and are those always beneficial? This paper analyses the discourse of health in a Swedish region. The purpose is to discuss some ?truths? within the discourse of health. Furthermore to show some ?thruth-effects? for individuals and groups as well as open up and find new perspectives within the discourse of health. The discourse of health has been analysed based on Jörgensen and Philips (2004) description of discourse theory and discourse psychology. The analysis of the discourse includes reading of documents, observation of a general meeting and eighteen shorter interviews. Some ?truths? that were pointed out was that Health, Illness, Good eating habits and Exercise is fundamental in the regional discourse of health and that these are supported by the medical discourse. Some of the effects induced by these ?truths? were ?Recommendations? and ?Risks? which affected the individuals by classifications in the ?Healthy? that followed the recommendations and the ?Unhealthy? that risked illness.