Representations and resulting pain
As part of qualitative research for the CLUD of the Hospitals of Toulouse, we studied over two years how social representations of health professionals could help clarify the practices of acknowledging “pain resulting from care.” As part of the theory of social representations, we relied on the notion of professional representation. Professional representations are representations concerning outstanding objects (pain resulting from care) belonging to a specific professional environment (health professionals). Spread across the considered profession, they constitute a composite process which takes shape and dissolves, one with which individuals develop within professional situations of care: opinions, behavior, positions, knowledge, and so on. The notion was made operational here with 302 health professionals from all social and occupational groups. Although the elements put forward in this article only represent a small part of the research undertaken, they enable us to register our qualitative research within a hermeneutic approach of the studied phenomenon. The examination of the professional representation of the various categories of health actors shows that status is the first differential criterion for positions taken relative to the professional object under discussion. Besides, the health actor’s own story, their knowledge and opinions, reveal a second, distinctive marker. “Pain resulting from care“ is an outstanding object, acknowledged within care units. “What I am (as a nurse) influences my way of handling the pain resulting from care.”
Keywords
- pain resulting from care
- social representations
- professional representations
- hermeneutic approach
- triangular modeling (thirdness) of the medical approach