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The conferences include keynote lectures and presentations of current research speaking to the topics of each conference. Being postponed because of the corona pandemic, this fourth conference is held in 2023. The previous conferences were titled:

Why symptoms?

Welcome to Sommarøy 2023. Photo: Gøran Mikkelsen/SAHT

Physical symptoms represent the main reason for consultation for many patients in primary care. Symptoms occur at the borderline of health and illness (when bodily sensations become indicators of possible disease) and are mediated by knowledge regimes and socio-cultural patterns. They test practitioners' clinical skills and require judgements about whether to investigate the patient or to reassure. They challenge patients regarding interpretation of symptoms, how to react to and how to communicate them. Symptoms occur within personal and societal contexts, both as new symptoms which may or may not represent disease and as persistent symptoms which last beyond, or in disproportion to, any disease processes. Overall, processes of care-seeking, medical decisions, diagnostic processes and treatment/care all involve attention to symptoms.

Why this conference?

SymPCa 2023 brings together researchers from clinical and social sciences to learn about and discuss novel dimensions of thinking about symptoms, their potentials, management and treatment in primary care and in everyday life. We aim to bring together researchers from various disciplines to present state-of-the-art research on symptoms and to encourage discussions that go beyond, broaden and challenge our current knowledge.

Organizing and scientific committee