The active participation of elderly patients in traditional Chinese medicine consultations as means to creating a community of practice: A case study in Hong Kong

Abstract

Despite its historic role in Chinese society and its popularity with an elderly Chinese population, limited research has explored the discursive practices of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Our analysis of practitioner–patient interactions illustrated the reasons why TCM is widely welcomed by a specific patient group. This paper adopted the concept of Community of Practice (CoP) as a theoretical framework to document how patients interact with TCM practitioners to construct meaning through a process of participation and reification. This study aimed to explore how patients in a medical consultation context developed an understanding of their conditions and how they strategically used medical terminology to enact meaningful exchanges to realise their CoP. An inductive qualitative discourse analysis was conducted to for nine elderly patients (i.e., age > 65) in Hong Kong to demonstrate the role that a CoP played in a joint process of knowledge construction to promote a patient-centred practice and foster the active participation of the patients. TCM practitioners can develop specific communication skills to promote their patients’ CoP, which will improve patient-centred care, empower patients to actively engage in their treatments and result in higher levels of patient satisfaction.

Utilization patterns and prescription characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine among patients with irritable bowel syndrome in Taiwan

“…Furthermore, choosing TCM might also be attributed to the higher expectations of patients and the fact that it allows better long-term clinical outcomes and might improve their quality of life (Figueira et al, 2010). TCM was more likely to be chosen by elderly patients for improving health conditions (Pun, 2022). For IBS patients, the morbidity for age 30-60 s are a higher plateau (>200000 patients).…”