Losing and Regaining Sense of Control: A Cancer Patient's Interactions With Healthcare Professionals

Area of Science:

• Health Psychology
• Medical Sociology
• Patient-Provider Communication

Background:

• Serious illness, such as cancer, can significantly disrupt a patient's sense of agency and control.
• The patient-provider relationship plays a crucial role in the illness experience and management.
• Understanding how patients regain control is vital for improving healthcare support.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore how a patient's sense of agency and control can be lost and regained during serious illness.
• To analyze the impact of patient-professional interactions on the patient's sense of control.
• To highlight the role of supportive healthcare relationships in restoring patient agency.

Main Methods:

• Collaborative autoethnography using personal experiences of cancer.
• Analysis of five key episodes over 18 months following diagnosis.
• Focus on the evolving dynamics of control and agency through shared reflections.

Main Results:

• Impersonal and one-sided healthcare communication contributed to a loss of control.
• Dialogic, respectful, and participatory interactions facilitated the reclamation of control and agency.
• Supportive relationships enabled patients to shape life beyond illness.

Conclusions:

• Patient-professional interactions are central to regaining a sense of agency and control.
• Relational and socially constructed understandings of control are crucial in illness management.
• Supportive healthcare relationships have the potential to rebuild patient agency and control.