The paper presents the new role played by patient groups over the last decades. Through the use of support groups, patient associations and activist movements, patients and/or their relatives share knowledge that has been acquired about specific illness. New scenarios arise in the field of Health derived from such associative forms, such as patients’ demands being incorporated into health care public policy as well as collaboration with research efforts. The present paper aims, using literature review, to analyze the role played by the internet in the constitution of this new actor in the field of health. It also addresses a new phenomenon, made possible by the Internet: the promotion of research by patients without the participation of expert researchers. The concept of biopower is employed as a framework to analyze these new health scenarios.
Internet; Patients groups; Experiential knowledge; Patient organization; Patients’ participation in research