Review: i Fundamentals of Person-Centred Healthcare Practice
This book is written for students and as per the title the focus is central to student's learning, knowledge, skills and practice through placement experiences. It needs to be pointed out that there is an underlying framework that the book's chapters refer to, this is the Person-Centered Practice Framework [PCPF]. While the editors have biographies the (non-editing) contributors are listed by affiliation. I would have liked to read a brief professional biography.
I was encouraged, but under no illusions, when I read that the authors: "show how the Framework interconnects with and fits with the approaches, concepts, models or principles relevant to their professions, roles, service users, students, colleagues, service contexts or learning environments." (Foreword). Clearly the PCPF has been fine-tuned and subjected to research nationally and internationally.
The book is thought provoking at the same time as being accessible with bite-sized chapters. I've often wondered about the meanings behind 'careful'. The introduction provides us with 'healthful' which I am still chewing over. I was encouraged too in the introduction as the book clearly needs to define many forms of care (e.g., person-centred, family, relationship) and concepts, such as, person, personhood and person-centred.
The text size, font and layout are modern and accessible. Some of the figures (p.5) while informative take a real effort to read and interpret, given the use of shades of green and grey. Here contrast - black on dark-green - is a problem. Each chapter begins with 'learning outcomes' and there are activities 'Who am I as a person?' in chapter 1.
As we prepare for COP26 (fingers x'd) chapter 1 differentiates between person and non-persons. Now we see how the future and our ability to practice person-centred care depends on the viability, sustainability and hence protection of the biosphere.
Section 1 and the book as a whole is a marvellous primer for new learners. On pages 8-9 the discussion on 'the reflective person' and Sabat's three forms of self highlights the importance of the context and how person-centredness is situated:
Sabat, S. R. (2002). Surviving Manifestations of Selfhood in Alzheimer’s Disease: A case study. Dementia, 1(1), 25–36. https://doi.org/10.1177/147130120200100101
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| Self 1 |
Self 2 |
| Self 3 |
Self 3*? |
More to follow(*) with many thanks to the publisher for the review copy.
Fundamentals of Person-Centred Healthcare Practice, McCormack, B., McCance, T., Bulley, C., Brown, D., McMillan, A, Martin,S. (Eds.). ISBN: 978-1-119-53308-5 February 2021 Wiley-Blackwell.
orcid.org/0000-0002-0192-8965