Ford2018a

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Ford2018a
BibType INCOLLECTION
Key Ford2018a
Author(s) Joseph Ford
Title Empathy as a way of acknowledging patients’ personhood in palliative care interactions
Editor(s) Elizabeth Peel, Carol Holland, Michael Murray
Tag(s) EMCA, Discursive psychology, Discourse analysis, Empathy, Medical interaction, Palliative care
Publisher Palgrave Macmillan
Year 2018
Language English
City Cham
Month
Journal
Volume
Number
Pages 79–104
URL Link
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-97034-9_4
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title Psychologies of Ageing: Theory, Research and Practice
Chapter

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Abstract

The so-called discursive turn in social psychology has provided a framework for understanding psychological processes as interactional phenomena. This chapter considers how doctors actually provide support, focusing particularly on how they empathise with their older patients during end-of-life or palliative care. Using conversation analysis to examine recordings of actual doctor-patient consultations taken from a hospice, this research demonstrates that empathy is an omnipresent feature of palliative care interaction. This means that doctors display it both when responding to patients’ emotional disclosures, and when recognising the concerns that patients might have regarding, for example, difficult-to-follow advice. These findings build upon earlier research showing the end stages of life to be individual and varied, rather than adhering to generic, one-size-fits-all conceptions of what constitutes “good death.” They also have practical implications, as well as illustrating the benefits that an approach grounded in discourse (rather than cognition) can have for research in the psychology of ageing.

Notes