Healthcare providers’ narratives about interactionally troubling patient exchanges: Accounting for and against an active patient role

The current trend in healthcare is to actively involve patients in their own treatment; however, in practice, healthcare providers may adhere to paternalistic views, which may not align with ideals related to patient involvement. This tension may become visible when providers talk about service enc...

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Main Authors: Elina Weiste, Melisa Stevanovic, Nanette Ranta, Henri Nevalainen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. 2024-07-01
Series:Qualitative Research in Medicine & Healthcare
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.pagepressjournals.org/qrmh/article/view/11877
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author Elina Weiste
Melisa Stevanovic
Nanette Ranta
Henri Nevalainen
author_facet Elina Weiste
Melisa Stevanovic
Nanette Ranta
Henri Nevalainen
author_sort Elina Weiste
collection DOAJ
description The current trend in healthcare is to actively involve patients in their own treatment; however, in practice, healthcare providers may adhere to paternalistic views, which may not align with ideals related to patient involvement. This tension may become visible when providers talk about service encounters that they experienced as being interactionally troubling. In this empirical qualitative study, we utilize Bamberg’s narrative positioning analysis to explore how healthcare providers construct patients’ roles in narratives about such troubling exchanges. Data consist of 20 audio-recorded interviews with healthcare providers. We found two types of narratives in which healthcare providers’ perceptions of interactionally troubling patient exchanges were consistently related to their implicit evaluations of patients along a continuum of activeness versus passiveness. In the first, an active patient was considered ideal, and the problematic patient was one who is passive. In the second, a patient’s over-activeness was thought to interfere with the healthcare delivery. While providers’ complaints about patient passiveness were unproblematically presented from the perspective of the patient participation ideal, complaints about patient over-activeness were difficult to account for due to their inherent connotations with paternalism. Thus, we conclude that there is a need for training and interventions aiming to develop healthcare providers’ critical awareness of shifting cultural models, including patient involvement ideals and providers’ capacity to reflect paternalistic tendencies.
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spelling doaj-art-31d6e79b9e204e76b557053ef5ebfef92025-08-02T04:46:11ZengKeAi Communications Co., Ltd.Qualitative Research in Medicine & Healthcare2532-20442024-07-018210.4081/qrmh.2024.11877Healthcare providers’ narratives about interactionally troubling patient exchanges: Accounting for and against an active patient roleElina Weiste0Melisa Stevanovic1Nanette Ranta2Henri Nevalainen3Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, HelsinkiTampere University, TampereTampere University, TampereTampere University, Tampere The current trend in healthcare is to actively involve patients in their own treatment; however, in practice, healthcare providers may adhere to paternalistic views, which may not align with ideals related to patient involvement. This tension may become visible when providers talk about service encounters that they experienced as being interactionally troubling. In this empirical qualitative study, we utilize Bamberg’s narrative positioning analysis to explore how healthcare providers construct patients’ roles in narratives about such troubling exchanges. Data consist of 20 audio-recorded interviews with healthcare providers. We found two types of narratives in which healthcare providers’ perceptions of interactionally troubling patient exchanges were consistently related to their implicit evaluations of patients along a continuum of activeness versus passiveness. In the first, an active patient was considered ideal, and the problematic patient was one who is passive. In the second, a patient’s over-activeness was thought to interfere with the healthcare delivery. While providers’ complaints about patient passiveness were unproblematically presented from the perspective of the patient participation ideal, complaints about patient over-activeness were difficult to account for due to their inherent connotations with paternalism. Thus, we conclude that there is a need for training and interventions aiming to develop healthcare providers’ critical awareness of shifting cultural models, including patient involvement ideals and providers’ capacity to reflect paternalistic tendencies. https://www.pagepressjournals.org/qrmh/article/view/11877Patient involvementpatient-provider interactioninterviewnarrativesnarrative positioning analysis
spellingShingle Elina Weiste
Melisa Stevanovic
Nanette Ranta
Henri Nevalainen
Healthcare providers’ narratives about interactionally troubling patient exchanges: Accounting for and against an active patient role
Qualitative Research in Medicine & Healthcare
Patient involvement
patient-provider interaction
interview
narratives
narrative positioning analysis
title Healthcare providers’ narratives about interactionally troubling patient exchanges: Accounting for and against an active patient role
title_full Healthcare providers’ narratives about interactionally troubling patient exchanges: Accounting for and against an active patient role
title_fullStr Healthcare providers’ narratives about interactionally troubling patient exchanges: Accounting for and against an active patient role
title_full_unstemmed Healthcare providers’ narratives about interactionally troubling patient exchanges: Accounting for and against an active patient role
title_short Healthcare providers’ narratives about interactionally troubling patient exchanges: Accounting for and against an active patient role
title_sort healthcare providers narratives about interactionally troubling patient exchanges accounting for and against an active patient role
topic Patient involvement
patient-provider interaction
interview
narratives
narrative positioning analysis
url https://www.pagepressjournals.org/qrmh/article/view/11877
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