Apart from the above findings, we also found that more than half (55%) of the patient members ended their self-introduction postings with words for encouragement. There were three types of them. The first two types were coded based on their word usage; that is, they all contained certain words or phrases. Table 4.8 presents the examples of these two types.
The first type of words for encouragement included words like ‘希望/hope,’ ‘願/wish’ and
‘祝/bless’ which all connote the meaning of praying and blessing (Examples 1 to 3 in Table 4.8.) This type is mainly to wish for other patient members as well as non-patient members to be healthy, safe and happy. The second type included the phrase ‘加油/go for it’ to express support for themselves as well as other patient members (Examples 4 to 7 in Table 4.8.)
Table 4.8
Examples of words for encouragement from the self-introduction postings by patient members.
Examples Type of encouragement
1 最後希望版上的眾病友, 家屬及其家人, 都可以
健健康康, 平安幸福 ^^
‘In the end, hope fellow patients and cancer patients’
family members in this board as well as their family to be healthy, safe and happy ^^’
contained the word which connote the meaning of praying
and blessing (i.e. ‘希望/hope’)
2 最後願所有正在努力的朋友 平安快樂~
‘In the end, wish all the friends who are striving safe and happy~.’
contained the word which connote the meaning of praying
and blessing (i.e. ‘願/wish’)
3 也祝大家身體都能越來越健康！！我也一樣！哈 contained the word which
‘And, bless everyone to be more and more healthy!!
Different from the classification done for the first two types, the coding for the third type was based on its contents. This type of words for encouragement was found to contain encouraging words. (i.e. the words which can stimulate patient members to have resolution and courage in their journey of fighting cancer.) The following two excerpts are the examples for this type of words for encouragement:
Excerpt 4.1
Words for encouragement with encouraging words-1 Line
Excerpt 4.2
Words for encouragement with encouraging words-2 Line
1 用最樂觀、開朗的一面去面對
‘To face it with the most optimistic, open and clear mind.’
2 人生轉個灣 可以看到更美的風景
‘Turning a corner in life can see more beautiful scenery.’
3 大家都要有信心喔!!!!!!!!!!!!!
‘Everybody must have confidence!!!!!!!!!!!!!’
The patient members in two of the above excerpts made use of the metaphorical concept ‘Life is a Journey’ to compare life with a journey on a road (Line 1 in Excerpt 4.1, a long life journey in the future is a long road; and Line 2 in Excerpt 4.2, the change in a life journey is turning a corner along a road). Apart from the above metaphor, these two patient members also made use of other concepts. The patient member in Excerpt 4.1 used the concept of life filled with hope (Line 2) to stimulate other patient members to fight cancer actively and not to be hindered by the present obstacles and difficulties. The patient member in Excerpt 4.2 encouraged other patient members to face the fact of getting cancer diagnosis with an optimistic, open and clear mind by using the concept of being able to see more beautiful scenery after turning a corner (Lines 1 and 2). Moreover, he/she also encouraged other cancer members to have the confidence of overcoming cancer (Line 3).
In addition to the above characteristics about words for encouragement, we also found two characteristics on the style of expression. The first one is the use of emoticons. The emoticons that patient members used at the end of their self-introduction postings all belong to the category of smile, such as, ^^, :) and ^________^ (Example 1, 4 and 7 in Table 4.8.) The second one is the use of multiple exclamation marks: Example 3 in Table
4.8 has two instances; Examples 5 and 6 in Table 4.8 has three instances; and Line 3 in Excerpt 4.2 has the highest use of more than 10 exclamation marks.
To sum up for Chapter Four, there are three main findings in response to Research Questions 1 and 2. First, compared with other boards in KDD, patient members’
spontaneous age-disclosure within self-introduction posting is a salient linguistic characteristic. There are six types of linguistic pattern for age-disclosure; among them, the
‘neutral pattern for age-disclosure’ makes up 53%, and the ‘non-neutral pattern for age-disclosure’ makes up 47%. Moreover, ‘being young’ is the social characteristic of all members of the cancer board, including patient members and non-patient members.
Second, patient members tended to provide descriptions of a sense of normalcy and satisfaction with their lives prior to the cancer diagnosis and their counter-expectation to the cancer diagnosis. Third, more than half (55%) of the patient members ended their self-introduction postings with words for encouragement. In the following Chapter, we further discuss how these findings reflect patient members’ psychosocial characteristics (i.e.
the third Research Question).
CHAPTER FIVE
DISCUSSION
We have reviewed in Chapter Two that age-disclosure is not merely to reveal personal information but also a way to pursue some particular aims and if one considers his/her contextual age is running ahead of his/her chronological age and negatively evaluates his/her physical condition, age-disclosure can then be highly face-threatening (Coupland et al. 1989). A similar age-disclosure pattern is observed in the collected data of the present study. Patient members conceived their contextual age to be older than their chronological age and saw themselves as too young to be a cancer patient. The cancer diagnosis led them to evaluate their physical condition to be worse than that corresponding to their chronological age. However, they chose to disclose their age spontaneously without worrying about the risk of losing face. Therefore, we believe that there are certain interactional functions of their spontaneous age-disclosure.
Based on patient members’ spontaneous behavior of age-disclosure, we reach our first argument: although these patient members are not medical professionals, they intuitively know the importance of age in medical contexts (5.1). Moreover, patient members’
spontaneous behavior of age-disclosure, together with their being young and their description of a sense of normalcy and satisfaction with their lives prior to the cancer diagnosis and counter-expectation of getting cancer diagnosis leads to our second argument:
the cancer diagnosis was unexpected to patient members and they therefore subconsciously resisted their cancer diagnosis (5.2). Then we arrive at our third argument based on the fact of patient members’ participation in KDD cancer board and their provision of words for encouragement: the appearance of words for encouragement in the self-introduction postings by patient members reflects their need for mutual support (5.3). The following
Sections are our discussion.