Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Bonanno's Theory of Grieving

Bonanno's Theory of Grieving

Grieving is a complex psychological and emotional process that varies significantly among individuals. George Bonanno's research on bereavement identified four distinct patterns of grieving, offering a nuanced understanding of how people cope with significant loss, such as the death of a spouse, over extended periods. These patterns — resilience, recovery, chronic dysfunction, and delayed grief — highlight the diversity in emotional responses and adaptive mechanisms.
Resilience

Stereotype Content Model

Stereotype Content Model

The Stereotype Content Model (SCM) was first proposed by Susan Fiske and her colleagues (Fiske, Cuddy, Glick & Xu, 2002; see also Fiske, 2012 and Fiske, 2017). The SCM specifies that when someone encounters a new group, they will stereotype them based on two metrics: warmth—or that group’s perceived intent, and how likely they are to provide help or inflict harm—and competence—or their ability to carry out that objective. Depending on the warmth-competence...

Empathy

Empathy

Some researchers suggest that altruism operates on empathy. Empathy is the capacity to understand another person’s perspective, to feel what he or she feels. An empathetic person makes an emotional connection with others and feels compelled to help (Batson, 1991). Empathy can be expressed in several ways, including cognitive, affective, and motor.

Fundamental Attribution Error

Fundamental Attribution Error

According to some social psychologists, people tend to overemphasize internal factors as explanations—or attributions—for the behavior of other people. They tend to assume that the behavior of another person is a trait of that person, and to underestimate the power of the situation on the behavior of others. They tend to fail to recognize when the behavior of another is due to situational variables, and thus to the person’s state. This erroneous assumption is...

Horney's Sociocultural Approach

Horney's Sociocultural Approach

Karen Horney's psychoanalytic theories emphasize the potential for self-realization and the importance of addressing social and cultural, rather than biological, factors in personality development. She challenged traditional Freudian views, particularly Freud's concept of "penis envy," which she argued stemmed from cultural influences rather than inherent biological differences. Horney believed that any sense of inferiority in women was a result of societal conditioning, such as...

Bystander Effect

Bystander Effect

The discussion of bullying highlights the problem of witnesses not intervening to help a victim. This is a common occurrence, as the following well-publicized event demonstrates. In 1964, in Queens, New York, a 19-year-old woman named Kitty Genovese was attacked by a person with a knife near the back entrance to her apartment building and again in the hallway inside her apartment building. When the attack occurred, she screamed for help numerous times and eventually died from her stab wounds.

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Insights Into Self-Care of Feet When Living With Diabetes: A Phenomenological Hermeneutic Interview Study.

Journal of clinical nursing·2026

Same author

Use of Health and Welfare Technology in Palliative Care: State-of-the-Art Review.

Journal of medical Internet research·2026

Same author

Nurses' experiences of moral disengagement: A phenomenological study.

Nursing ethics·2026

Same author

Explaining the Slow Adoption of AI Innovations in Health Care: Network Analysis Approach.

JMIR AI·2026

Same author

Generative AI Chatbots as Digital Adjuncts for Sexual Health Information After Prostate Cancer in Men Who Have Sex With Men: Auto-Netnographic Study.

JMIR cancer·2026

Same author

Contextual factors affecting learning-oriented leadership in healthcare: a case study.

Journal of health organization and management·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 6, 2025

Author Spotlight: Quantifying Pain Experience – An Illustrative Approach Using the Pain Body Diagram

Author Spotlight: Quantifying Pain Experience – An Illustrative Approach Using the Pain Body Diagram

Published on: July 7, 2023

Distant suffering: A concept analysis.

Jill W Åhs¹, Henrik Eriksson², Monir Mazaheri³

¹Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences, and Society, Division of Nursing, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden; Department of Health Sciences, Swedish Red Cross University, Huddinge, Sweden.

International Journal of Nursing Studies

|January 7, 2024

Summary

Distant suffering, encountered through telehealth or media, presents a paradox with potential negative impacts on patients and healthcare workers. Understanding this concept is crucial for improving care and mitigating harm.

Keywords:

Distress Health care Mediation Suffering Witnessing

More Related Videos

Perceptual and Category Processing of the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis' Dimension of Human Likeness: Some Methodological Issues

Perceptual and Category Processing of the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis' Dimension of Human Likeness: Some Methodological Issues

Published on: June 3, 2013

Author Spotlight: Insights into Remotely Supervised Neuromodulation Procedure for Phantom Limb Pain

Author Spotlight: Insights into Remotely Supervised Neuromodulation Procedure for Phantom Limb Pain

Published on: March 1, 2024

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 6, 2025

Author Spotlight: Quantifying Pain Experience – An Illustrative Approach Using the Pain Body Diagram

Author Spotlight: Quantifying Pain Experience – An Illustrative Approach Using the Pain Body Diagram

Published on: July 7, 2023

Perceptual and Category Processing of the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis' Dimension of Human Likeness: Some Methodological Issues

Perceptual and Category Processing of the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis' Dimension of Human Likeness: Some Methodological Issues

Published on: June 3, 2013

Author Spotlight: Insights into Remotely Supervised Neuromodulation Procedure for Phantom Limb Pain

Author Spotlight: Insights into Remotely Supervised Neuromodulation Procedure for Phantom Limb Pain

Published on: March 1, 2024

Area of Science:

Healthcare Sciences
Sociology
Digital Health

Background:

Healthcare encounters with suffering are common.
Telehealth increases the incidence of "distant suffering," where suffering is witnessed from afar.
This distance creates a paradox, potentially harming the sufferer and raising ethical concerns for the witness.

Purpose of the Study:

To explore the concept of distant suffering.
To examine its relevance and implications within healthcare.
To identify avenues for future research in health sciences.

Main Methods:

Utilized Rodgers' evolutionary concept analysis.
Conducted a systematic literature search across multiple databases (Web of Science, Medline, CINAHL, PsycInfo) using terms like "distant suffering" and "mediated suffering".
Extracted and synthesized attributes, antecedents, consequences, and uses of the concept from 30 selected articles.

Main Results:

Distant suffering involves mediated far-away suffering, a witness (recognizer), and a potential moderator.
Antecedents include shared understandings and socially influenced responses.
Consequences range from empathy and compassion to indifference, cynicism, and compassion fatigue.

Conclusions:

Further research from a healthcare perspective is needed to understand distant suffering's impact.
Improved understanding can help reduce negative consequences for sufferers, healthcare workers, and others exposed to distant suffering.
Recognizing and managing distant suffering is vital for health and healthcare outcomes.