Many healthcare professionals experience difficulties in discussing sexual health with their patients. The aim of this review was to synthesize results of studies on communication practices in interactions about sexual health in medical settings, to offer healthcare professionals suggestions on how to communicate about this topic. Veel zorgprofessionals ervaren problemen bij het bespreken van seksuele gezondheid met hun patiënten. Het doel van deze review was een synthese te presenteren van studies naar communicatiepraktijken in interactie over seksuele gezondheid in medische settings, om zorgprofessionals handreikingen te bieden voor communicatie over dit thema.
Cancer and its treatments cause significant changes in sexuality that affect the quality of life of both patients and their partners. As these issues are not always discussed with healthcare professionals, cancer patients turn to online health communities to find answers to questions or for emotional support pertaining to sexual issues. By using a discursive psychological perspective, we explore the social actions that participants in online health forums perform when discussing sexuality. Data were collected by entering search terms in the search bars of three online health forums. Our analysis of 213 threads, containing 1,275 posts, provides insight into how participants who present themselves as women with cancer account for their sexual issues and, in doing so, orient to two intertwined norms: Having untroubled sex is part of a couple’s relationship, and male partners are entitled to having untroubled sex. We discuss the potential harmful consequences of orienting to norms related to sexual behaviour. Yet, our findings can also help healthcare professionals in broaching the topic of sexuality in conversations with cancer patients. The insights of this study into what female patients themselves treat as relevant can assist health professionals in better aligning with patients’ interactional concerns.
Chronic pain rehabilitation programs are aimed at helping patients to increase their functioning despite being in pain, thereby improving their quality of life. However, conversations between patients and practitioners about how the patient could deal with his/her pain and pain-related disabilities in a different way can be interactionally challenging. This study adopts a discursive psychological perspective to explore how pain-related disability is negotiated by patients and practitioners during consultations. The analysis shows that pain-related disability is treated by both patients and practitioners as negotiable rather than a fixed reality. Moreover, it shows that patients’ and practitioners’ negotiations of disability are subject to issues of agency, accountability, and blame, and it provides insight into the interactional dilemmas that are at stake, both for patients and practitioners. Revalidatieprogramma’s voor patiënten met chronische pijn zijn gericht op het verbeteren van het functioneren ondanks de pijn, waardoor kwaliteit van leven wordt bevorderd. Conversaties tussen patiënten en behandelaars over de manier waarop de patiënt kan omgaan met de pijn en gerelateerde beperkingen kunnen interactionele uitdagingen met zich meebrengen. Dit hoofdstuk verkent vanuit discursief-psychologisch perspectief hoe beperkingen worden onderhandeld door patiënten en behandelaars in consulten. De analyse toont aan dat de beperkingen worden behandeld als onderhandelbaar in plaats van als een onveranderbare werkelijkheid. Bovendien toont de analyse dat in deze onderhandelingen bepaalde issues relevant worden gemaakt, zoals ‘agency’, verantwoordelijkheid en schuld. Inzicht wordt geboden in de interactionele dilemma’s die op het spel staan voor zowel patiënten als behandelaars.
