EL AFECTO EN RELATOS DE DOLOR CRÓNICO EN COMENTARIOS DE FACEBOOK DE MUJERES CHILENAS

From a discourse studies perspective, this research examines from an interpersonal standpoint the affect that Chilean women with chronic pain construct in their narratives describing their experiences with endometriosis. A total of 7230 Facebook comments published over a period of four years on three Chilean webpages on endometriosis were analyzed. The data were classified in terms of affect type, following the System of Appraisal (Martin English; Martin and White). Then, these items were related to the appraised entities so as to identify patterns of use. A clear predominance of values of un/happiness (sadness) and dis/satisfaction (pleasure and discontent) was observed. Sadness was significantly related to pain, to the condition per se, and to surgical treatments. Having observed a strong predominance of sadness, this fact should be considered when designing patient-centered health actions.