Cross-cultural metaphors of pain and pain management
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Cross-cultural metaphors of pain and pain management
IRAS ID
180543
Contact name
Sondos Ibrahim
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Northumbria University Humanities Department
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 5 days
Research summary
This doctoral project aims to investigate the metaphors and communication strategies used to describe pain by migrant patients and their clinicians. The study employs linguistic strategies of metaphor and discourse analysis to analyse the interactions between clinicians and patients in the clinical environment.
The study aims to make a contribution to the emerging dialogue between linguistic research and clinical practice. The research also promises a number of pedagogical and practical applications, contributing to the training of healthcare professionals when communicating with patients from different cultural and language backgrounds.The following research questions underpin the study:
1. What is the role of metaphor in the discourse of chronic-pain patients (especially fibromyalgic patients) and their clinicians?
2. To what extent are these metaphors culture-specific?
3. What is the impact of the clinical environment on the use of metaphor by chronic-pain patients?To address the above research questions, a two-phase study is proposed. Firstly, audio-recordings will be made of the hospital's three weekly pain management programmes. Pain management programmes are weekly group meetings led by a clinician and designed with the aim of improving the quality of life of chronic-pain sufferers. Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospital currently holds three pain management programmes at any one time and an additional programme in the community translated into Punjabi. Each programme lasts for ten weeks, with each group consisting of twenty patients. These programmes will be audio-recorded and analysed for metaphor and discourse strategies.
In addition to the recording of these pain management programmes, a fixed number of semi-structured interviews will be undertaken with clinical staff. Staff will be asked to reflect on their own experiences in the healthcare environment when communicating with non-native speakers of English.REC name
North East - Tyne & Wear South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/NE/0355
Date of REC Opinion
3 Nov 2015
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion