Premium
The patient's narrative of suffering: a path to health?
Author(s) -
Fredriksson Lennart,
Eriksson Katie
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of caring sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.678
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1471-6712
pISSN - 0283-9318
DOI - 10.1046/j.1471-6712.2001.1510003.x
Subject(s) - narrative , conversation , meaning (existential) , psychology , narrative inquiry , point (geometry) , epistemology , nursing , sociology , psychotherapist , medicine , linguistics , philosophy , communication , geometry , mathematics
The aim of this interpretative research synthesis was to develop a theoretical understanding of how a narrative approach in a caring conversation enables the patient to understand and find meaning in suffering, and how this in turn may be a path to health. The material consisted of 23 articles published between 1990 and 1997 in caring and nursing journals. The synthesis is summed up in a model for narrative understanding in a caring conservation consisting of three phases in which the patient is encouraged:(i) to tell stories describing why the suffering has come about, how things are at present, and what is wanted and needed; (ii)to make up a narrative of suffering that follows the actual course of events; and (iii) to reconnect to their life history, that is to reflect on the point or lesson to be learned in order to achieve a new wholeness. The model may be linked with and used in the clinical setting, and it also raises questions for further research in the area of communication in health care.