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Flourishing in health care

Edgar, Andrew Robert ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4556-5147 and Pattison, Stephen 2016. Flourishing in health care. Health Care Analysis 24 (2) , pp. 161-173. 10.1007/s10728-016-0315-5

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Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to offer an account of ‘flourishing’ that is relevant to health care provision, both in terms of the flourishing of the individual patient and carer, and in terms of the flourishing of the caring institution. It is argued that, unlike related concepts such as ‘happiness’, ‘well-being’ or ‘quality of life’, ‘flourishing’ uniquely has the power to capture the importance of the vulnerability of human being. Drawing on the likes of Heidegger and Nussbaum, it is argued that humans are at once beings who are autonomous and thereby capable of making sense of their lives, but also subject to the contingencies of their bodies and environments. To flourish requires that one engages, imaginatively and creatively, with those contingencies. The experience of illness, highlighting the vulnerability of the human being, thereby becomes an important experience, stimulating reflection in order to make sense of one’s life as a narrative. To flourish, it is argued, is to tell a story of one’s life, realistically engaging with vulnerability and suffering, and thus creating a framework through which one can meaningful and constructively go on with one’s life.

Item Type: Article
Date Type: Publication
Status: Published
Schools: English, Communication and Philosophy
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General)
R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine
Additional Information: Pdf uploaded in accordance with publisher's policy at http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/issn/1065-3058/ (accessed 21/06/2016)
Publisher: Springer Verlag
ISSN: 1065-3058
Date of First Compliant Deposit: 31 March 2016
Date of Acceptance: 22 January 2016
Last Modified: 08 Nov 2023 07:16
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/88464

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