Listening to Cancer Patients' Narratives During Residency: A Pilot Study on a Communication Skills' Workshop Involving Patients-Partners

Jacynthe Rivest; Philippe Karazivan; Véronique Desbeaumes Jodoin; Luigi Flora; Carole Lambert; Constantin Tranulis; Serge Daneault

doi:10.1177/23743735231183674

Listening to Cancer Patients' Narratives During Residency: A Pilot Study on a Communication Skills' Workshop Involving Patients-Partners

J Patient Exp. 2023 Jun 28:10:23743735231183674. doi: 10.1177/23743735231183674. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Jacynthe Rivest^{1

2}, Philippe Karazivan^{3

4}, Véronique Desbeaumes Jodoin^{1

2}, Luigi Flora^{4

5}, Carole Lambert^{2

6}, Constantin Tranulis⁷, Serge Daneault^{3

8}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry, Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM), Montreal, Canada.
² Centre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CRCHUM), Montréal, Canada.
³ Department of Family Medicine, University of Montreal Faculty of Medicine, Montreal, Canada.
⁴ Center of Excellence for Partnership with Patients and the Public, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
⁵ Innovation Center for partnership with patients and the public, Côte d'Azur University, Clermont-Ferrand, France.
⁶ Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Montreal Health Center, Montreal, Canada.
⁷ Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
⁸ Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal, Montreal, Canada.

Abstract

The field of cancer care still lacks best practices in communication. Few postgraduate training programs offer formal training to develop such skills. The patient partnership has been used in medical education to increase the sensitivity of the subjective experiences of patients. In our Canadian center, residents and patient-partners participated in an educational workshop on communication focusing on patient's narrative. The aim of this pilot qualitative study was to explore the experiences of participants in the workshop. Using theoretical sampling, we recruited 6 residents and 6 patient-partners. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and transcribed. A thematic analysis was performed. From analysis, 4 themes emerged: (1) lack of communication skills training; (2) barriers to effective communication in cancer care; (3) the empathy of patient-partners towards the communication challenges faced by residents; and (4) the participants' reactions to the workshop. Based on our findings, our communication skills workshop centered on narrative medicine and involving patient-partners appears feasible. Future research could study its pedagogical value and the optimal learning environment required.

Keywords: McGill Illness Narrative Interview; cancer care; communication; illness narrative; medical education; patient engagement; patient-partner; post-graduate training.