Abstract
This study aims to analyze whether the rehabilitation of cancer surviving patients (CSPs) can be better organized. The data for this paper consists of focus group interviews (FGIs) with CSPs, general practitioners (GPs) and hospital physicians. The analysis draws on the theoretical framework of Jürgen Habermas, utilizing his notions of 'the system and the life world' and 'communicative and strategic action'. In Habermas' terminology, the social security system and the healthcare system are subsystems that belong to what he calls the 'system', where actions are based on strategic actions activated by the means of media such as money and power which provide the basis for other actors' actions. The social life, on the other hand, in Habermas' terminology, belongs to what he calls the 'life world', where communicative action is based on consensual coordination among individuals. Our material suggests that, within the hospital world, the strategic actions related to diagnosis, treatment and cure in the biomedical discourse dominate. They function as inclusion/exclusion criteria for further treatment. However, the GPs appear to accept the CSPs' previous cancer diagnosis as a precondition sufficient for providing assistance. Although the GPs use the biomedical discourse and often give biomedical examples to exemplify rehabilitation needs, they find psychosocial aspects, so-called lifeworld aspects, to be an important component of their job when helping CSPs. In this way, they appear more open to communicative action in relation to the CSPs' lifeworld than do the hospital physicians.Our data also suggests that the CSPs' lifeworld can be partly colonized by the system during hospitalization, making it difficult for CSPs when they are discharged at the end of treatment. This situation seems to be crucial to our understanding of why CSPs often feel left in limbo after discharge. We conclude that the distinction between the system and the lifeworld and the implications of a possible colonization during hospitalization offers an important theoretical framework for determining and addressing different types of rehabilitation needs.
Highlights
The number of cancer surviving patients (CSPs) continues to rise, and many have rehabilitation needs [1,2,3]
The different foci of General practitioner (GP) vs. hospital physicians concerning rehabilitation Physical and psychosocial aspects are different aspects of cancer rehabilitation. This difference is apparent in the different foci of hospital physicians and GPs
The CSPs' rehabilitation needs Another aspect that emerged, is the problem of assessing the CSPs' rehabilitation needs; this aspect was mainly mentioned by the hospital physicians, and, again, the focus was on the physical aspects, which was is to be expected when evaluating a medical treatment: Hospital physician:" We interview on side effects after surgery... " Quoting the patient: "So we will, not tell the nice physician, who cured them, that it is not that well"
Summary
The number of cancer surviving patients (CSPs) continues to rise, and many have rehabilitation needs [1,2,3]. Cancer rehabilitation is a complex issue that covers both biomedical and psychosocial aspects [3,4,5]. The World Health Organization (WHO) describes the scope of rehabilitation as:. Many different professionals contribute to cancer rehabilitation, including hospital physicians and GPs. Since January 2007, the municipalities in Denmark have been responsible for providing rehabilitation services and for financing sick leave and pensions. [4,9] This paper aims to analyze how the organization of cancer rehabilitation could be improved and to identify barriers for such improvement. We draw on data obtained by means of focus group interviews (FGIs) with hospital physicians, CSPs and general practitioners (GPs)
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.