Abstract
BackgroundThe purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate advanced cancer patients’ perspectives on the importance, feasibility, teaching methods, and issues associated with training healthcare providers in compassionate care.MethodsThis study utilized grounded theory, a qualitative research method, to develop an empirical understanding of compassion education rooted in direct patient reports. Audio-recorded semi-structured interviews were conducted to obtain an in-depth understanding of compassion training from the perspectives of hospitalized advanced cancer patients (n = 53). Data were analyzed in accordance with grounded theory to determine the key elements of the underlying theory.ResultsThree overarching categories and associated themes emerged from the data: compassion aptitude, cultivating compassion, and training methods. Participants spoke of compassion as an innate quality embedded in the character of learners prior to their healthcare training, which could be nurtured through experiential learning and reflective practices. Patients felt that the innate qualities that learners possessed at baseline were further fashioned by personal and practice experiences, and vocational motivators. Participants also provided recommendations for compassion training, including developing an interpersonal relationship with patients, seeing the patient as a person, and developing a human connection. Teaching methods that patients suggested in compassion training included patient-centered communication, self-reflection exercises, and compassionate role modeling.ConclusionsThis study provides insight on compassion training for both current and future healthcare providers, from the perspectives of the end recipients of healthcare provider training – patients. Developing a theoretical base for patient centred, evidence-informed, compassion training is a crucial initial step toward the further development of this core healthcare competency.
Highlights
The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate advanced cancer patients’ perspectives on the importance, feasibility, teaching methods, and issues associated with training healthcare providers in compassionate care
As its significance becomes increasingly recognized in enhancing quality patient care, wellbeing and overall quality of life, compassion and compassionate care are emerging as a competency that healthcare providers are expected to deliver [5, 7, 12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19]
In conducting a scoping review of compassion in healthcare [21] to inform protocol development for the larger study, specific gaps in the literature were identified related to the issue of compassion training which fell outside the scope of the broader inquiry focused exclusively on defining and delineating the components of compassion
Summary
The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate advanced cancer patients’ perspectives on the importance, feasibility, teaching methods, and issues associated with training healthcare providers in compassionate care. Compassion is increasingly espoused as a core competency of healthcare education and healthcare delivery, the learner attributes and competencies of a compassionate care provider are poorly understood [3, 19, 20] In addition to this knowledge gap, a significant practice gap in compassionate care has emerged, marked by critical incidences where compassion was lacking, leading to a system-wide healthcare reform calling for the reintegration of compassion into healthcare delivery and education [56, 18, 19]. This call to action has been pronounced in the United Kingdom, where compassion was recently identified as an outcome of high-quality healthcare education [6], requiring healthcare educators to “clearly evidence how users [patients] and carers contribute to programme delivery and design” ([6] p.34)
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