Perceptions of the medical relevance of patients stories of painful and adverse life experiences: a focus group study among Norwegian GPs, 2023, Getz

[Midnattsol]

Full title: Perceptions of the medical relevance of patients` stories of painful and adverse life experiences: a focus group study among Norwegian General Practitioners

Abstract:
Purpose
Adverse life experiences increase the risk of health problems. Little is known about General Practitioners’ (GPs') thoughts, clinical concepts, and work patterns related to eliciting, including, or excluding their patients’ stories of painful and adverse life experiences. We wanted to explore GPs’ perceptions of the medical relevance of stories of painful and adverse life experiences, and to focus on what hinders or facilitates working with such stories.

Method
Eighteen Norwegian GPs participated in three focus group interviews. The interviews were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.

Results
The participating GPs’ views on the clinical relevance of patients’ painful and adverse experiences varied considerably. Our analysis revealed two distinct stances: a confident-accepting stance, and an ambivalent-conditional stance. GPs encountered barriers to exploring such stories: scepticism on behalf of the medical discipline; scepticism on behalf of the patients; and, uncertainty regarding how to address stories of painful and adverse experiences in consultations. Work with painful stories was best facilitated when GPs manifested personal openness and prepared availability, within the context of a doctor-patient relationship based on trust.

Conclusions
Clearer processes for handling biographical information and life experiences that affect patients’ health are needed to facilitate the work of primary care physicians.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17482631.2022.2108560

 

[Midnattsol]

Some may be interested to know that the last author of this, Linn Getz, was the phd supervisor for the founder of Recovery Norway Henrik Vogt.

I read about the study in the medical news outlet "Dagens Medisin" (Daily medicine) today (I have not read the whole study I linked to above). I found it interesting as the GP's that "took it for granted that it (body and mind) is connected" based this on their clinical experience and did not refer to any studies (see bolded part below).

The study, which was published in the International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being last year, shows that the 18 doctors in the study differed in two groups when it came to attitudes to the medical relevance of patients' stories.

A minority group had an accepting position, and took it for granted that there is a connection between the patient's biography and biology. What these doctors had in common was that they had extensive clinical experience and did not differentiate between the somatic and the psychological in medically unexplained symptoms.

The second group, which made up the majority of the doctors, had an ambivalent view, and acceptance was conditional on them wanting to see results in order to believe in a connection between the patient's life experience and health.

- The doctors in the first group justify connections with what they have experienced and do not distinguish between physical and psychological conditions. They talk about a whole body and take it for granted that it is so, referring not to scientific studies, but to knowledge they have acquired through a long life as a general practitioner - and where they have seen the benefit of working in that way, that it's a good way to work, says the GP researcher to the website.

In the second group, there were several doctors who felt that patient histories did not belong in general practice because it "is about clarifying a problem then and there", and who would therefore refer these patients on.

Google translate: Study: GPs attach varying degrees of importance to the importance of patients' bad life experiences

 

[rvallee]

Narrative-based medicine, get that crap out of here. It's just as bad today as it was before scientific medicine. In fact it is pretty much exactly identical to what it was before scientific medicine, in a straight uninterrupted line. The medical religion can't die soon enough, literally one of the worst ideologies ever inflicted on the world, it rivals the big ones in sheer inflicted suffering and needless cruelty. The only good parts of medicine are based on science, the rest is a mess.