Narrative as an aid for the doctor-patient relationship in China

Abstract

In recent years, the incidence of violence against Chinese doctors has increased dramatically, with the scale, frequency and viciousness of attacks shocking the world. The challenging doctor-patient relationship remains a complicated issue with no single cause. When the tension intensifies, some news media tend to blame the doctors, using misleading narratives to create sensationalism, thereby aggravating the antagonism between the society and medical professionals. Much scholarship has focused on exploring the social, economic, political, legal, and medical aspects of the doctor- patient relationship. In contrast, little research has been done to interrogate the media's role in contributing to the tension. Additionally, although most studies are concerned with proposing suggestions, no study has posed an intervention to combat the twisted depictions of doctors and to abate the worsening doctor-patient tension. To this end, this thesis examines the role of the media to provide an explanatory analysis of its influence on the doctor-patient relationship, and then leverages on the power of narrative to offer an intervention as an aid to the current doctor-patient tension. User feedback has been collected and analyzed to measure the effectiveness of this project. The aim of this intervention is to help promote perspective taking, increase awareness, and foster understanding toward medical professionals in China.