Listening with the third ear and other expertises: a case analysis of social work discourse in the context of the multidisciplinary palliative care team
Document Type
Journal Article
Publisher
The College of Community Psychologists of the Australian Psychological Society Ltd
Faculty
Faculty of Computing, Health and Science
School
School of Computing, Health and Science
RAS ID
4259
Abstract
The philosophy of palliative care is to provide holistic support to people living with a life threatening illness and their families, optimally delivered by a multi-disciplinary health care team with the patient and his/her family centralised as the prime drivers of decisions about support and care. We argue, however, that palliative care is in effect more than this: it is an expression of shared cultural beliefs about the ‘right’ way to die in the context of a terminal illness with a concomitant impact on the ability of the patient to define his/her own support needs. Drawing on the work of Michel Foucault and through analysis of a case study of the social worker on a palliative care multidisciplinary team, we argue that the impact of shared cultural beliefs about ways of dying, coupled with the functioning of the multidisciplinary team, can work to marginalise the patient and render his/her voice silent, and hence, become secondary to professional expertises in decisions surrounding support and care at the end of life
Access Rights
free_to_read
Comments
Fisher, C., Guilfoyle, A., & O'Connor, M. (2006). Listening with the third ear and other expertises: a case analysis of social work discourse in the context of the multidisciplinary palliative care team. Australian Community Psychologist, 18(2). Available here