Communication as Comfort
Multiple Voices in Palliative Care
1st Edition
Published on 15. May 2008
XIV, 170 pages
978-0-203-93867-6 (ISBN)
Description
This exceptional work explores the complexities of communication at one of the most critical stages of the life experience--during advanced, serious illness and at the end of life. Challenging the predominantly biomedical model that informs much communication between seriously ill and/or dying patients and their physicians, caregivers, and families, Sandra L. Ragan, Elaine M. Wittenberg-Lyles, Joy Goldsmith, and Sandra Sanchez-Reilly pose palliative care--medical care designed to comfort rather than to cure patients--as an antidote to the experience of most Americans at the most vulnerable juncture of their lives.
With an author team comprised of three health communication scholars and one physician certified in geriatrics and palliative medicine, this volume integrates the medical literature on palliative care with that of health communication researchers who advocate a biopsychosocial approach to health care. Applying communication theories and insights to illuminate problems and to explain their complexities, the authors advocate a patient-centered approach to care that recognizes and seeks to lessen patients' suffering and the many types of pain they may experience (physical, psychological, social, and spiritual) during life-threatening illness.
With an author team comprised of three health communication scholars and one physician certified in geriatrics and palliative medicine, this volume integrates the medical literature on palliative care with that of health communication researchers who advocate a biopsychosocial approach to health care. Applying communication theories and insights to illuminate problems and to explain their complexities, the authors advocate a patient-centered approach to care that recognizes and seeks to lessen patients' suffering and the many types of pain they may experience (physical, psychological, social, and spiritual) during life-threatening illness.
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Other editions
Additional editions
Sandra L. Ragan | Elaine M. Wittenberg-Lyles | Joy Goldsmith
Communication as Comfort
Multiple Voices in Palliative Care
Book
03/2008
1st Edition
Routledge
€207.20
Shipment within 10-20 days
Sandra L. Ragan | Elaine M. Wittenberg-Lyles | Joy Goldsmith
Communication as Comfort
Multiple Voices in Palliative Care
Book
03/2008
1st Edition
Routledge
€72.00
Shipment within 10-20 days
Persons
Sandra Ragan (Ph.D. University of Texas at Austin) is Professor Emerita of communication at the University of Oklahoma. She has been studying communication and palliative care/end-of-life issues for many years, and has contributed to numerous volumes on the topic, including several in the LEA list. Elaine Wittenberg-Lyles (Ph.D. University of Oklahoma) is an assistant professor at the University of North Texas, and Joy Goldsmith (Ph.D. University of Oklahoma) is an assistant professor at Young Harris College in Georgia. Sandra Sanchez-Reilly (M.D., Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario, Colombia) is an assistant professor of Geriatrics and Palliative Care and the director of the Palliative Care program at the University of Texas Health Science Center and the South Texas Veterans Health Care System in San Antonio, Texas.
Content
Chapter One
The American Way of Death: Dying in Silence
Western Medicine and the Ignoring of Human Suffering
Theoretical Approaches to Palliative Care Communication
Social construction of health and illness
Dialectical theory
Uncertainty management theory
Problematic integration theory
Performance and dramaturgical theories
Narrative theory
Chapter Two
A brief history of Hospice and Palliative Medicine
What is Palliative Care?
Specific features of palliative care
A rationale for palliative care
The vital role of communication in palliative care
Chapter Three - The Patient's Perspective
Re/Considering Illness Narrative(s)
Diagnosis, Recurrence, Prognosis
Wresting Physician Communication
Decision-making and Quality of Life
To Pursue Curative or Palliative Treatments
Online support groups
Dealing with Doctors: A Lack of Control
Patient's Body and Its Interpreter
Patient Communication in the SPIKES Strategy
Pain
Reciprocal Suffering: Anxiety over Family Burden
Conclusion
Chapter Four - The Medical Perspective
Overview - the Medical Backdrop
Medical disclosure, decision-making, and information exchange between doctors and patients
Medical Prognosis
Research findings on "breaking bad news"
Challenges to the practice of palliative care: medical socialization, emotional, turmoil, stress and burnout
How one physician practices palliative care communication: Analysis of case studies
Chapter Five - The Family/Caregiver Perspective
Reception of a Diagnosis/Prognosis
Sharing decisions and collaborating about treatment
Communication with Physician
Locating or reframing hope
Reciprocal suffering: Caregiver burden and anxiety
Quality of life
Stressors of caregiving
Pain management
Mental and physical labor
Financial concerns/burdens
Family conflict and palliative care
Family communication/meetings
The death event
Satisfaction with care and communication with staff at death
Bereavement and displacement
Chapter Six - The Health Care Team's Perspective
Chaplaincy
Psychology
Social Work
Nurse
Communication Challenges
Chapter Seven - The Authors' Voices
The American Way of Death: Dying in Silence
Western Medicine and the Ignoring of Human Suffering
Theoretical Approaches to Palliative Care Communication
Social construction of health and illness
Dialectical theory
Uncertainty management theory
Problematic integration theory
Performance and dramaturgical theories
Narrative theory
Chapter Two
A brief history of Hospice and Palliative Medicine
What is Palliative Care?
Specific features of palliative care
A rationale for palliative care
The vital role of communication in palliative care
Chapter Three - The Patient's Perspective
Re/Considering Illness Narrative(s)
Diagnosis, Recurrence, Prognosis
Wresting Physician Communication
Decision-making and Quality of Life
To Pursue Curative or Palliative Treatments
Online support groups
Dealing with Doctors: A Lack of Control
Patient's Body and Its Interpreter
Patient Communication in the SPIKES Strategy
Pain
Reciprocal Suffering: Anxiety over Family Burden
Conclusion
Chapter Four - The Medical Perspective
Overview - the Medical Backdrop
Medical disclosure, decision-making, and information exchange between doctors and patients
Medical Prognosis
Research findings on "breaking bad news"
Challenges to the practice of palliative care: medical socialization, emotional, turmoil, stress and burnout
How one physician practices palliative care communication: Analysis of case studies
Chapter Five - The Family/Caregiver Perspective
Reception of a Diagnosis/Prognosis
Sharing decisions and collaborating about treatment
Communication with Physician
Locating or reframing hope
Reciprocal suffering: Caregiver burden and anxiety
Quality of life
Stressors of caregiving
Pain management
Mental and physical labor
Financial concerns/burdens
Family conflict and palliative care
Family communication/meetings
The death event
Satisfaction with care and communication with staff at death
Bereavement and displacement
Chapter Six - The Health Care Team's Perspective
Chaplaincy
Psychology
Social Work
Nurse
Communication Challenges
Chapter Seven - The Authors' Voices
