Operator and users in health context. Which competences for an effective relationship?

Most of the contributions on the relationship between Health Operator and patients has clearly pointed out the need for a further deepening of an important aspect of the Operator’s training: the acquisition of abilities on paying attention to his emotions and to the "emotional resonance" caused by his relationship with patients. In this regard a research at Pediatric Oncology Unit of Sant’Orsola Hospital, Bologna, aims to verify the degree of consistency between the Operator’s emotional non-verbal response and the expressive-emotional signals produced by young patients’ parents during a clinical interview. The data show most of the Health Operator’s non-verbal signals and expressions as relational-communicative elements, and not as emotions correlated with patients’ ones. When this occurs, the relationship between the parts is quite uneffective. The emotion recognition is a self-knowledge journey that allows to comprehend both the meaning of emotions themselves and what happens to us and to the others. In health context, it increases the Operator’s relational abilities and allows him to apply his expertise to patients’ needs. The acquisition and development of specific and appropriate relational and communicative skills may be a primary aim of a Health Organization, in the view of high quality services.

Keywords: Empathy, self awareness, interpersonal skills

Pier Luigi Garotti, Lavinia La Torre, Dorella Scarponi, Andrea Pession, Operatore e utente nel contesto sanitario. Quali competenze per una relazione efficace? in "PSICOLOGIA DELLA SALUTE" 1/2010, pp 89-102, DOI: 10.3280/PSD2010-001005