Who's Responsible? Clients in a Stress Management Clinic

Bibliographic Data

ID5455559
AuthorsJune S Lowenberg (University of Washington Tacoma Campus, corresponding author)
Year1997
Volume7
Issue4
Pages448-467
Publication date1997-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueQualitative Health Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1049-7323 • E-ISSN: 1552-7557
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/104973239700700402
OpenAlexW1971134259
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited26

This article examines how responsibility for health is generated in a primary nursing care clinic for stress management. The methodological perspective was that of symbolic interaction and interpretive research. Eighteen clients were interviewed at various points during their treatment trajectory, along with seven clinicians. From the extensive discourse around personal choice, self-management, and individual responsibility, one would expect that providers might stigmatize clients and induce guilt and blame for either their physical problems or inability to manage their stress. The expert nurses in this clinic, however, continued to absolve clients, and clients did not experience any guilt, stigmatization, or judgmentalism within the clinic. By balancing theoretical concepts of learning and unconscious motivation with deep compassion, the nurse clinicians absolved these clients from blame while continuing to emphasize personal responsibility

Blame · Compassion · Compassion fatigue · Political science · Psychoanalysis · Unconscious mind · Clinical Psychology · Ethics in medical practice · Health, psychology, and well-being · Medicine · Nursing · Psychology · Social Psychology · Social Work Education and Practice

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