NAVIGATING HEALTH CHALLENGES: HOW HEALTH PRACTITIONERS SUPPORT PATIENTS IN CARE

Abstract

People with long-term health conditions navigate a variety of physical, emotional, social and practical challenges. Health practitioners play a critical role in supporting patients to address the challenges they face in care. This article examines health practitioners’ actions to support patients in care and describes the range of ways practitioners help patients address health-related challenges. Narratives from a large-scale study with patients who have long-term health conditions are drawn upon to illustrate how practitioners support patients in care. Four categories of action practitioners take to support patients in care are described: practitioners provide (i) emotional public recognition of patients’ challenges; (ii) knowledge and advice about health challenges; (iii) practical assistance with care procedures; and (iv) encouragement and assistance to connect patients to social support networks (F. Sheridan et al., 2019). Understanding how practitioners support patients in care illuminates the collaborative nature of care and the importance of practitioner actions in enabling effective patient engagement in care.