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CHAPTER 30 Carolyn L. Wiener; Marylin J. Dodd 595

Career Award (2000). In 2005, Dodd received the Such disruption affects all aspects of life, including
prestigious Episteme Laureate (the Nobel Prize in physiological functioning, social interactions, and
Nursing) Award from Sigma Theta Tau Interna- conceptions of self. Coping is the response to such
tional. This impressive partial listing of awards disruption. Because the processes surrounding the
demonstrates the magnitude of professional respect disruption of illness are played out in the context of
and admiration that Dodd has garnered throughout living, coping responses are inherently situated in
her career. sociological interactions with others and biographi-
Dodd’s record in research dissemination is equally cal processes of self. Coping is often described as a
illustrious. Her volume of original publications be- compendium of strategies used to manage the dis-
gan in 1975. By the early 1980s, she was publishing ruption, attempts to isolate specific responses to one
multiple, focused articles each year, and this pace has event that is lived within the complexity of life con-
only accelerated. She has authored or coauthored 130 text, or assigned value labels to the responsive behav-
data-based peer-reviewed journal articles, seven iors (e.g., good or bad) that are described collectively
books and many book chapters, and numerous edito- as coping. Yet, the complex interplay of physiological
rials, conference proceedings, and review papers disruption, interactions with others, and the con-
(1978, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1997, 2001, 2004). Her many struction of biographical conceptions of the self war-
presentations at scientific gatherings around the rants a more sophisticated perspective of coping.
world accentuate this work. Dodd has been an in- The Theory of Illness Trajectory* addresses these
vited speaker throughout North America, Australia, theoretical pitfalls by framing this phenomenon
Asia, and Europe. within a sociological perspective that emphasizes the
Dodd’s active service to the university, School of experience of disruption related to illness within the
Nursing, Department of Physiological Nursing, and changing contexts of interactional and sociological
to numerous professional and public organizations processes that ultimately influence the person’s re-
and journal review boards augments her outstand- sponse to such disruption. This theoretical approach
ing record of service to the profession of nursing. defines this theory’s contribution to nursing: coping is
Despite the breadth and volume of these activities, not a simple stimulus-response phenomenon that can
she is an active teacher and mentor. Dodd is the be isolated from the complex context of life. Life is
faculty member of record for several graduate centered in the living body, therefore physiological
courses and carries a significant advising load in the disruptions of illness permeate other life contexts to
master’s, doctoral, and postdoctoral programs at create a new way of being, a new sense of self. Re-
UCSF. From this brief overview of her amazing ca- sponses to the disruptions caused by illness are inter-
reer, it is clear that Dodd is an exemplar of excel- woven into the various contexts encountered in one’s
lence in nursing scholarship. life and the interactions with other players in those
life situations.
Within this sociological framework, Wiener and
Theoretical Sources Dodd address serious concerns regarding concep-
Although coping with illness has been of interest to tual overattribution of the role of uncertainty for
social scientists and nursing scholars for decades, understanding responses to living with the disrup-
Wiener and Dodd clearly explicate that formerly tions of illness (Wiener & Dodd, 1993). An old ad-
implicit theoretical assumptions have limited the age tells us that nothing in life is certain, except
utility of this body of work (Wiener & Dodd, 1993, death and taxes. Living is fraught with uncertainty,
2000). Being ill creates a disruption in normal life. yet illness (especially chronic illness) compounds

*The Theory of Illness Trajectory refers to theoretical formulations regarding coping with uncertainty through the cancer illness
trajectory. From this perspective, coping is best viewed as change over time that is highly variable in relation to biographical and
sociological influences. The trajectory is this course of change, of variability, that cannot be confined to or modeled in linear phases
or stages. Rather, the illness trajectory organizes insights to better understand the dynamic interplay of the disruption of illness
within the changing contexts of life.