Food That Makes You Different

The Stigma Experienced by Adolescents With Celiac Disease

Bibliographic Data

ID4701240
AuthorsCecilia Olsson (0000-0002-3731-6565, University of Umeå, Umeå, Sweden), Phil Lyons, Phil Lyon (0000-0002-9357-5596, University of Umeå, Umeå, Sweden), Agneta Hörnell (0000-0002-5464-5686, University of Umeå, Umeå, Sweden), Anneli Ivarsson (0000-0001-8944-2558, University of Umeå, Umeå, Sweden), Ylva Mattsson Sydner (0000-0002-1798-411X, University of Umeå, Umeå, Sweden)
Year2009
Volume19
Issue7
Pages976-984
Publication date2009-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueQualitative Health Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1049-7323 • E-ISSN: 1552-7557
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1049732309338722
PMID19556403
OpenAlexW2148964808
LanguageEN
Citations received19
References cited38

For adolescents with celiac disease (CD), a gluten-free diet (GFD) is crucial for health, but compliance is problematic and noncompliance is common even among those aware of the risks. To better understand their lives with the disease, Swedish CD adolescents were invited to take part in focus group discussions. Data were analyzed for recurrent stigma-related themes across the groups. Adolescents described an awareness of being different from others that was produced by meal appearance and the poor availability of gluten-free food. The GFD often required discussions and special requests, so eating in public had the effect of making an invisible condition visible, and thereby creating a context for felt or enacted stigma. Maintaining invisibility avoided negative consequences of stigma, and other strategies were used to reduce the costs of visibility. The results of the study show that the GFD can produce stigma experiences in adolescence, and that dietary compliance (or lack thereof) can be understood in terms of dealing with GFD concealment and disclosure

Developmental psychology · Disease · Family medicine · Focus group · Gluten free · Invisibility · Pathology · Psychiatry · Social stigma · Celiac Disease Research and Management · Clinical Psychology · Eosinophilic Esophagitis · Medicine · Microscopic Colitis · Psychology

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