Solicitude: balancing compassion and empowerment in a relational ethics of hope-an empirical-ethical study in palliative care.

ABSTRACT: The ethics of hope has often been understood as a conflict between duties: do not lie versus do not destroy hope. However, such a way of framing the ethics of hope may easily place healthcare professionals at the side of realism and patients at the side of (false) hope. That leaves unexamined relational dimensions of hope. The objective of this study was to describe a relational ethics of hope based on the perspectives of palliative care patients, their family members and their healthcare professionals. A qualitative longitudinal method based on narrative theories was used. Semi-structured interviews on hope were conducted with twenty-nine palliative care patients, nineteen friends or family members, and fifty-two healthcare professionals, which were recorded and transcribed. Data on hope

SUBMITTER: Olsman E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4805712 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature