Exceptional patients: Narratives of connections

Engebretson, Joan; Peterson, Noemi E.; Frenkel, Moshe

doi:10.1017/s147895151300014x

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 30 publications

(33 reference statements)

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“…The challenge of the choice for a theoretical framework that can help studying and interpreting HP cases from a multidisciplinary perspective, lies in the absence of developed theoretical approaches that match the existing data (Levin, 2020 ). Reports on remarkable recoveries range between cases that are (un-)related to HP but are medically verified (Engebretson et al, 2014 ), cases that are described on the Lourdes pilgrimage site (François et al, 2014 ) and self-reported narrative accounts of patients, to name just a few. The authors who endeavour to provide an explanation for HP, usually take an eclectic approach.…”

Section: Theoretical Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

“…These accounts indicate that biomedical, biopsychosocial and even holistic explanatory frameworks can be of use when addressing certain physiological, lifestyle and relational aspects of remarkable recoveries (see, e.g. Engebretson et al, 2014 about social connections), but they come short in describing the spiritual or the transformative experiences of the patients.…”

Section: Theoretical Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

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A Dutch Study of Remarkable Recoveries After Prayer: How to Deal with Uncertainties of Explanation

et al. 2023

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This article addresses cases of remarkable recoveries related to healing after prayer. We sought to investigate how people who experienced remarkable recoveries re-construct and give meaning to these experiences, and examine the role that epistemic frameworks available to them, play in this process. Basing ourselves on horizontal epistemology and using grounded theory, we conducted this qualitative empirical research in the Netherlands in 2016–2021. It draws on 14 in-depth interviews. These 14 cases were selected from a group of 27 cases, which were evaluated by a medical assessment team at the Amsterdam University Medical Centre. Each of the participants had experienced a remarkable recovery during or after prayer. The analysis of the interviews, which is based on the grounded theory approach, resulted in three overarching themes, placing possible explanations of the recoveries within (1) the medical discourse, (2) biographical discourse, and (3) a discourse of spiritual and religious transformation. Juxtaposition of these explanatory frameworks provides a way to understand better the transformative experience that underlies remarkable recoveries. Uncertainty regarding an explanation is a component of knowing and can facilitate a dialogue between various domains of knowledge.

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Section: Theoretical Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theoretical Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

A Dutch Study of Remarkable Recoveries After Prayer: How to Deal with Uncertainties of Explanation

et al. 2023

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“…These strong connections lead to an increased desire to live. 22 These cancer survivors also recounted a more pleasurable experience when connection remained intact throughout their illness. This retrospective, narrative study suggests having strong social connections might play a role in decreased mortality in cancer patients.…”

Section: Connection and Cancer Patientsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Connections help improve the life and health of cancer patients. In an article by Engebretson and colleagues, 22 cancer survivors of advanced stages of their diseases who lived an average 11 years after their initial diagnosis were all interviewed and major themes were pulled out of their narratives. The most obvious and consistent theme among all fourteen subjects was strong connections to family, friends, and medical staff.…”

Section: Connection and Cancer Patientsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Connection Prescription: Using the Power of Social Interactions and the Deep Desire for Connectedness to Empower Health and Wellness

Martino

Pegg

Frates

2015

American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine

106

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Social connection is a pillar of lifestyle medicine. Humans are wired to connect, and this connection affects our health. From psychological theories to recent research, there is significant evidence that social support and feeling connected can help people maintain a healthy body mass index, control blood sugars, improve cancer survival, decrease cardiovascular mortality, decrease depressive symptoms, mitigate posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, and improve overall mental health. The opposite of connection, social isolation, has a negative effect on health and can increase depressive symptoms as well as mortality. Counseling patients on increasing social connections, prescribing connection, and inquiring about quantity and quality of social interactions at routine visits are ways that lifestyle medicine specialists can use connection to help patients to add not only years to their life but also health and well-being to those years.

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“…Narratives are flexible and allow individuals to express their own views about their illness or the care they have received by occupying multiple positionalities and discourses (Mattingly, Lawlor, & Jacobs-Huey, 2002). At the same time, there are certain events in life, such as illnesses, and certain contexts, such as the hospital, which produce specific narrative types (Boaz & Morgan, 2014; Edvardsson, Rasmussen, & Riessman, 2003; Engebretson, Peterson, & Frenkel, 2013; Ewick & Silbey, 1995; Frank, 1995; Thomas, 2010; Tropea, 2012).…”

Section: Illness Narrativesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Narrated, Nonnarrated, and the Disnarrated

Vindrola‐Padros

Johnson

2014

Qual Health Res

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While analyzing the narratives of children receiving pediatric oncology treatment and their parents, we encountered three ways to look at their narratives: what was narrated, nonnarrated, and disnarrated. The narrated refers to the actors (characters) and events (scenes) individuals decided to include in the narration of their experiences, the nonnarrated are everything not included in narration, and the disnarrated are elements that are narrated in the story but did not actually take place. We use our reflection to illustrate how an integrative analysis of these different forms of narration can allow us to produce a holistic interpretation of people’s experiences of illness. This approach is still in the early stages of development, but we hope this article can promote a debate in the field and lead to the refinement of an important tool for narrative analysis.

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Exceptional patients: Narratives of connections

Abstract: The importance of connections in these illness narratives was richly illustrated. These issues often are overlooked in clinical settings; yet they are of crucial importance to the health and well-being of the patients.

Cited by 6 publications

References 30 publications

A Dutch Study of Remarkable Recoveries After Prayer: How to Deal with Uncertainties of Explanation

A Dutch Study of Remarkable Recoveries After Prayer: How to Deal with Uncertainties of Explanation

The Connection Prescription: Using the Power of Social Interactions and the Deep Desire for Connectedness to Empower Health and Wellness

The Narrated, Nonnarrated, and the Disnarrated

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