Article

Artificial limbs (prosthetics) are considered important for keeping the
person physically active and avoiding an array of negative health outcomes
associated with non-use. Increasingly, the potential users of these limbs are the
focus of commercial prosthetic company advertisements. It has been argued that it
is important to examine such media representations, not least because people's
beliefs regarding health and illness are often forged from the discourses and
constructions available to them in such material, but because these
representations mediate individual lived experience. This article
provides a thematic analysis, drawing upon discourse analysis and semiotics, of
textual-pictorial representations of artificial limb users in the advertisements
of prosthetic companies. The data set was comprised of advertisements that
appeared over a 2-year period in inMotion, an international magazine produced and
distributed by a major amputee advocacy group. RESULTS: The findings indicate
that dominant societal constructions of work, gender and family are drawn on in
depicting artificial limb users. These offer generally positive representations
that draw on socially pervasive stereotypes. CONCLUSIONS: The findings are
discussed in relation to literature concerning the experience and meaning of
prosthesis use, and the implications for health professionals working with this
group are set out. Implications for Rehabilitation People who lose a limb are
increasingly being exposed to advertisements from prosthetic companies. Such
advertisements have the potential to foster unrealistic expectations regarding
rehabilitation following amputation. Healthcare professionals need to be mindful
of how these advertisements mediate lived experience and impact on rehabilitation
when planning personal care plans.

Langue : ANGLAIS