Indications of power and empowerment during patient-doctor consultation?

[Edgard Eeckman]

I am analyzing 25 consultations between patients and their general practitioners for indications of power and patient empowerment.

I am looking for an evidence-based check-list of what indications of power and empowerment are.

Any suggestions?

Many thanks in advance.

Kind regards

Edgard

[Dave Collingridge]

As someone who works in healthcare, I find this an interesting subject. I suggest looking for published research on patient empowerment, especially qualitative studies were patients were interviewed about their experiences with navigating the healthcare system. In such studies qualitative researchers would have identified emergent themes on patient empowerment. Those emergent themes could help you form a checklist of indicators of patient empowerment during clinician-patient consultation.

[Edgard Eeckman]

Thank you for your quick reply. What you suggest is indeed what I will have to do if such a checklist of indicators does not exist yet. I did of course already a lot of literature research on power and (patient) empowerment, but I am still missing that checklist. I want to be sure it does not exist before developing my own.

Challenge to me seems the difference between communication and power: is a doctor interrupting a patient often an indication of power or of bad communication? Is a patient demanding more information about a treatment an indication of patient empowerment or of a patient having communication skills?

[Dr Ann Lawless]

That sounds like a fascinating area of study.  I dont think you will find a checklist necessarily – you may need to clarify what theoretical framework you are working with, or the methodolgical approach, and then search for instruments and protocols used within that theory or methodology.  So once defined, you may not find it is called a checklist so much as a process/instrument or protocol congruent with a specific orientation of your research.

 

 

and you may need to consider designing your own, customised to your specific research context – to your research question, theory, methodology etc.

 

I think Dave’s advice is very relevant too Eddgar, good luck with it

[Author]

Posts