Metaphors that shape parents' perceptions of effective communication with healthcare practitioners following child death: a qualitative UK study.
Turner, Sarah Littlemore, Jeannette Taylor, Julie Parr, Eloise Topping, A E
Turner, Sarah
Littlemore, Jeannette
Taylor, Julie
Parr, Eloise
Topping, A E
Abstract
Objectives: To offer an interpretation of bereaved parents' evaluations of communication with healthcare practitioners (HCPs) surrounding the death of a child.
Design: Interpretative qualitative study employing thematic and linguistic analyses of metaphor embedded in interview data.
Setting: England and Scotland.
Participants: 24 bereaved parents (21 women, 3 men).
Methods: Participants were recruited through the True Colours Trust website and mailing list, similar UK charities and word of mouth. Following interviews in person or via video-conferencing platforms (Skype/Zoom), transcripts first underwent thematic and subsequently linguistic analyses supported by NVivo. A focused analysis of metaphors used by the parents was undertaken to allow in-depth interpretation of how they conceptualised their experiences.
Results: The findings illuminate the ways parents experienced communication with HCPs surrounding the death of a child. Key findings from this study suggest that good communication with HCPs following the death of a child should acknowledge parental identity (and that of their child as an individual) and offer opportunities for them to enact this; taking account their emotional and physical experiences; and accommodate their altered experiences of time.
Conclusions: This study suggests that HCPs when communicating with bereaved parents need to recognise, and seek to comprehend, the ways in which the loss impacts on an individual's identity as a parent, the 'physical' nature of the emotions that can be unleashed and the ways in which the death of a child can alter their metaphorical conceptions of time.
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Date
2022-01-25
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Turner S, Littlemore J, Taylor J, Parr E, Topping AE. Metaphors that shape parents' perceptions of effective communication with healthcare practitioners following child death: a qualitative UK study. BMJ Open. 2022 Jan 25;12(1):e054991. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-054991