Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 14, 2026
14:32
Using Visual and Narrative Methods to Achieve Fair Process in Clinical Care
Published on: February 16, 2011
Hard stories in the workplace.
1University of New England, College of Health Professions, School of Social Work, 716 Stevens Avenue, Portland, ME 04103, USA. scohenkonrad@une.edu
Work (Reading, Mass.)
|May 25, 2007
Summary
Professional attitudes toward suffering impact family caregiver relationships. Understanding caregiver perspectives is crucial for building strong alliances during stressful times, especially when dealing with children
Area of Science:
- Healthcare professional-patient relationships
- Qualitative research methodologies
- Family caregiver support systems
Background:
- Healthcare provider relationships with family caregivers often initiate during periods of significant distress.
- Professional attitudes and responses to patient and family suffering are critical factors in relationship development.
- The impact of exposure to difficult narratives ('hard stories') on these professional-caregiver alliances requires examination.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine existing literature on healthcare professionals' attitudes towards suffering.
- To explore how exposure to family caregivers' 'hard stories' influences the formation and quality of alliances.
- To highlight caregiver perspectives on competent, meaningful, and mutual relationships.
Main Methods:
- Literature review on professional attitudes and responses to suffering.
- Qualitative, phenomenological study involving mothers of children with acquired physical disabilities.
- Analysis of first-person accounts to identify key qualities of effective caregiver relationships.
Main Results:
- Caregivers identify specific qualities that foster competent, meaningful, and mutual relationships with healthcare professionals.
- Bearing witness to 'hard stories' is facilitated by these identified relational qualities.
- Professional attitudes significantly shape the caregiver's experience and the alliance's strength.
Conclusions:
- Understanding and integrating caregiver perspectives is essential for healthcare providers.
- Developing empathetic and responsive attitudes towards suffering enhances professional-caregiver alliances.
- Effective alliances enable healthcare providers to better support families through challenging experiences.
Related Concept Videos
01:08Obedience
According to obedience research, we may harm others under the forceful pressures of an authority figure (Milgram, 1974). How about if the inappropriate orders were delivered with less force? The increasing interdependence between nurses and physicians compelled Hofling and his colleagues to explore nurses’ reactions to a potentially harmful medical request made by the perceived authority figure, the doctor (Hofling, Brotzman, Dalrymple, Graves, & Pierce, 1966). In this situation, obedience...
02:09Stereotype Threat and Self-fulfilling Prophecies
When we hold a stereotype about a person, we have expectations that he or she will fulfill that stereotype. A self-fulfilling prophecy is an expectation held by a person that alters his or her behavior in a way that tends to make it true. When we hold stereotypes about a person, we tend to treat the person according to our expectations. This treatment can influence the person to act according to our stereotypic expectations, thus confirming our stereotypic beliefs. Research by Rosenthal and...
01:14Work
Work is a fundamental concept of mechanical engineering and has many applications. Understanding how work is calculated and the different types of work can help us better understand physical processes and provide insights into complex problems.
Work is defined as the result of a force acting on an object, causing it to move along the line of action of force. It is also defined as the process of transferring energy through the application of force on an object, resulting in its displacement.
Work is defined as the result of a force acting on an object, causing it to move along the line of action of force. It is also defined as the process of transferring energy through the application of force on an object, resulting in its displacement.
01:22Work
Work is done when energy is transferred from one object to another. In other words, work is when a force acts on something that undergoes a displacement from one position to another. Forces can vary as a function of position, and displacements can be along various paths between two points. The increment of work (dW) done by a force acting through an infinitesimal displacement can be defined as the dot product of force () and displacement () vectors.
The dot product can be expressed in terms of...
The dot product can be expressed in terms of...
01:30Ethical Dilemmas II
Resolving an ethical dilemma in healthcare involves a systematic approach that considers every aspect of the issue, respecting both the patient's needs and values and the healthcare professional's ethical obligations. Here are potential steps to resolve an ethical dilemma:
01:37Social Loafing
Another way in which a group presence can affect performance is social loafing—the exertion of less effort by a person working together with a group. Social loafing occurs when our individual performance cannot be evaluated separately from the group. Thus, group performance declines on easy tasks (Karau & Williams, 1993). Essentially individual group members loaf and let other group members pick up the slack. Because each individual’s efforts cannot be evaluated, individuals become less...