%0 Journal Article
%T The politics of evidence in online illness narratives: An analysis of crowdfunding for purported stem cell treatments
%A Chloe Wheatland
%A Claire Tanner
%A Doug Sipp
%A Leigh Turner
%A Megan Munsie
%J Health
%@ 1461-7196
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/1363459319829194
%X This article addresses the growing trend of crowdfunding for unproven stem cell-based treatments. Our analysis uses quantitative and qualitative data collected from two popular fundraising sites to examine how these sites are used to fund purported stem cell ¡®treatments¡¯ or ¡®therapies¡¯. In addition to mapping the use and success of these online campaigns by people with different health conditions in different locations, we consider the breakthrough restitution story as a key narrative that campaign organisers use to solicit donations. We argue that crowdfunding is a rapidly growing digital space where ¡®truths¡¯ about experimental treatments are constituted and a politics of evidence is unfolding. These developments are to the potential financial benefit of crowdfunding platforms and businesses offering unproven stem cell-based interventions, and to the potential detriment of patients and their supporters
%K experiencing illness and narratives
%K narrative analysis
%K risk and health
%K social inequalities in health
%K technology in healthcare
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1363459319829194