Building the patient–clinician relationship through conversation based on narrative approaches

Objective: To explore different narrative approaches with health care professionals (HCPs) attending a Conference on Modern Approaches to Diabetes Self-Management and Prevention as a means to build patient-clinician relationship and facilitate person-centred care.
Methods: A total of 94 HCPs attended the workshop. Attendees were divided into four subgroups and were asked to “have a go” at a narrative approach (1. creating a collage with images from magazines; 2. drawing the emotion using coloured pencils; 3. practising the tool called ‘My day’; 4. using self-writing). The hands-on sessions were followed by a group discussion regarding their possible application in clinical practice.
Results: Three common themes of using narratives in clinical practice were identified: 1. Potential benefits: Attendees experienced that using narratives promotes reflection, gives voice to the innermost part of oneself and facilitates self-expression; 2. Key barriers: Attendees mentioned that the particular approach they tried would probably not be suitable for everyone; and 3. Fit into existing practice?: Issues to be considered were appropriateness, time, trust and competences of HCPs.
Conclusion: Attendees generally recognised the value of the narrative approach in clinical practice and education. However, the workshop also revealed a need of HCPs for training in person centred communication skills. Further research is needed to assess the feasibility for implementation in clinical practice.