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Assessment and Communication for People with Disorders of Consciousness
Published on: August 1, 2017
Communication in context: new directions in communication research
Jozien Bensing1, Sandra van Dulmen, Kiek Tates
1NIVEL, P.O. Box 1568, 3500 BN Utrecht, The Netherlands. j.bensing@nivel.nl
Patient Education and Counseling
|May 28, 2003
Summary
Healthcare communication research needs a broader context. Expanding studies beyond single encounters to include goals, time, organization, and patient-provider dynamics improves understanding and practice.
Area of Science:
- Health Communication
- Medical Sociology
- Healthcare Management
Background:
- Current health communication research often focuses narrowly on individual patient-provider encounters.
- This limited perspective overlooks the broader contextual factors influencing communication effectiveness.
Purpose of the Study:
- To advocate for a more comprehensive approach to health communication research.
- To propose a multidimensional framework for analyzing communication in healthcare settings.
Main Methods:
- The study proposes four lines of investigation to broaden the research perspective:
- 1. Context defined by goals/targets of medical encounters.
- 2. Context defined by the temporal dimension (past/future encounters).
- 3. Context defined by the organizational setting.
- 4. Context defined by viewing encounters as meetings between multifaceted individuals.
Main Results:
- A broader contextual view is expected to explain deviations from high-quality communication standards.
- It will also illuminate how temporal factors can be optimized within medical encounters.
- This expanded perspective aims to bridge the gap between communication theory and practice.
Conclusions:
- Rethinking the scope of health communication research is crucial for deeper insights.
- Integrating contextual factors enhances the understanding of communication dynamics in healthcare.
- A holistic approach is necessary to improve both theoretical frameworks and practical application.
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