Core assumptions and research opportunities in clinical communication

Abstract

Objective: Contemporary clinical communication teaching and research reflect the axiomatic importance of building a clinical relationship and of empowering patients as partners. The apparent moral unassailability of these principles has inhibited their scientific scrutiny. By questioning this current hegemony in communication teaching and research, our objective is to identify research opportunities that remain to be fully exploited. Method: We identify assumptions in current communication literature and evaluate them from the perspective of relevant empirical and theoretical literature. Findings: The view that the clinical relationship is an objective thing which needs to be ‘built’ can lead researchers to neglect factors within patients that influence their subjective sense of the relationship. The model of partnership is hard to reconcile with patients’ vulnerability and associated dependency needs. The widespread use of the term ‘communication skills’ emphasises processes at a skill level at the expense of those at levels of cognition, emotion, and value. Conclusion: Research is needed into: the extent to which patients’ sense of relationship arises from factors outside the relationship; the implications of their vulnerability and dependency for clinical relationships; and the processes at the level of cognition, emotion and value, as well as skill, that are entailed in clinical communication and in communication teaching. Research and practice implications: Pursuing the research opportunities that we have identified will enhance the theoretical validity and practical relevance of clinical communication research and teaching.