Chew-Graham, Carolyn A, Cahill, Greg, Dowrick, Christopher et al. · Annals of family medicine · 2008 · DOI
This study looked at how ME/CFS patients and their family doctors understand the illness and talk about it during medical visits. Researchers interviewed 24 patients and 14 doctors in England and found that both groups use general knowledge from society and media—not just medical training—to make sense of ME/CFS. When they talk together, both patients and doctors use scientific language to be heard and trusted, which can help them work together better.
This research highlights the communication barriers and opportunities between ME/CFS patients and primary care doctors, showing that improved physician training using patient-generated knowledge could strengthen the clinical relationship. Understanding how both parties construct meaning around ME/CFS may inform better consultation practices and reduce the frustration patients often experience in primary care settings.
This qualitative study does not prove that improved physician training or knowledge-sharing will lead to better patient outcomes or satisfaction—it only describes how understanding is currently negotiated. It does not establish causation between communication patterns and treatment efficacy, and findings are limited to a specific UK primary care context and may not generalize internationally.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Chew-Graham, Carolyn A, Cahill, Greg, Dowrick, Christopher, Wearden, Alison, & Peters, Sarah (2008). Using multiple sources of knowledge to reach clinical understanding of chronic fatigue syndrome.. Annals of family medicine. https://doi.org/10.1370/afm.867
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-chew-graham-2008-using-multiple,
author = {Chew-Graham, Carolyn A and Cahill, Greg and Dowrick, Christopher and Wearden, Alison and Peters, Sarah},
title = {Using multiple sources of knowledge to reach clinical understanding of chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {Annals of family medicine},
year = {2008},
doi = {10.1370/afm.867},
note = {PubMed: 18626034},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/chew-graham-2008-using-multiple},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/chew-graham-2008-using-multiple
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