Robert Anderson, at the time of the first publication, was Senior Research Officer at the Institute for Social Studies in Medical Care, London, UK.Michael Bury is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the Royal Holloway University of London, UK. His research interests are in medical sociology, the study of chronic illness and disability, ageing, and the health and quality of life among older people, and cultural dimensions of health and medicine.

• Introduction 1. The quality of life of stroke patients and their carers 2. Reconstructing lives: negotiating the meaning of multiple sclerosis 3. Striking balances: living with Parkinson’s disease 4. Meanings at risk: the experience of arthritis 5. Wives of heart attack patients: the stress of caring 6. Coming to terms with diabetes: coping strategies and non-compliance 7. Accommodating epilepsy in families 8. The experience of stigma: living with rectal cancer 9. Living with renal failure on home haemodialysis 10. The experience of psoriasis under treatment Conclusion

Robert Anderson, at the time of the first publication, was Senior Research Officer at the Institute for Social Studies in Medical Care, London, UK.Michael Bury is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the Royal Holloway University of London, UK. His research interests are in medical sociology, the study of chronic illness and disability, ageing, and the health and quality of life among older people, and cultural dimensions of health and medicine.

• Introduction 1. The quality of life of stroke patients and their carers 2. Reconstructing lives: negotiating the meaning of multiple sclerosis 3. Striking balances: living with Parkinson’s disease 4. Meanings at risk: the experience of arthritis 5. Wives of heart attack patients: the stress of caring 6. Coming to terms with diabetes: coping strategies and non-compliance 7. Accommodating epilepsy in families 8. The experience of stigma: living with rectal cancer 9. Living with renal failure on home haemodialysis 10. The experience of psoriasis under treatment Conclusion

Robert Anderson, at the time of the first publication, was Senior Research Officer at the Institute for Social Studies in Medical Care, London, UK.Michael Bury is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the Royal Holloway University of London, UK. His research interests are in medical sociology, the study of chronic illness and disability, ageing, and the health and quality of life among older people, and cultural dimensions of health and medicine.

• Introduction 1. The quality of life of stroke patients and their carers 2. Reconstructing lives: negotiating the meaning of multiple sclerosis 3. Striking balances: living with Parkinson’s disease 4. Meanings at risk: the experience of arthritis 5. Wives of heart attack patients: the stress of caring 6. Coming to terms with diabetes: coping strategies and non-compliance 7. Accommodating epilepsy in families 8. The experience of stigma: living with rectal cancer 9. Living with renal failure on home haemodialysis 10. The experience of psoriasis under treatment Conclusion