Living with Celiac Disease: Norms of Femininity and the Complications of Everyday Life

Ethel Kautto^1, , Cecilia Olsson², Anneli Ivarsson³, Phil Lyon², Agneta Hörnell² and Lena Alex⁴

¹Department of Food and Nutrition and Umeå Center for Gender Studies, Umeå University, Sweden

²Department of Food and Nutrition, Umeå University, Sweden

³Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Epidemiology and Global Health, Umeå University, Sweden

⁴Department of Nursing, Umeå University, Sweden

Cite this paper:
Ethel Kautto, Cecilia Olsson, Anneli Ivarsson, Phil Lyon, Agneta Hörnell and Lena Alex. Living with Celiac Disease: Norms of Femininity and the Complications of Everyday Life. International Journal of Celiac Disease. 2017; 5(3):115-124. doi: 10.12691/ijcd-5-3-4

Abstract

Women with celiac disease are often described as being exposed to negative emotions and experiences related to the treatment of celiac disease, the gluten-free diet. To explore the daily consequences of diagnosis and their daily experiences of living with celiac disease, interviews were conducted with seven Swedish young women who had been diagnosed with celiac disease by screening in early adolescence. The semi-structured interview transcripts were content analysed using a gender perspective. The analysis showed that these young women`s daily experiences were coloured by the conjunction of their dietary treatment, their social relationships, and social norms. This means that recurrent food situations often clash with the normative constructions of femininity and social norms of eating with an adverse effect on dietary compliance.

Keywords:
adherence/compliance gluten-free diet gender young adults

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