ArticleInternational journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being2017
"It´s incredible how much I´ve had to fight." Negotiating medical uncertainty in clinical encounters.
Article in International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 22 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Trial
- ME/CFS and the emotional toll of persistent disbelief: from epistemic to affective injustice.Medicine, health care, and philosophy · 2026Article
- How Uncertainty Is Talked About in Language Discordant and Concordant Health Consultations: Patterns of Epistemic Adverb Use and Communication Accommodation Strategies.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2026Article
- What do we know about medical invalidation and related concepts? - A scoping review and thematic analysis about the definitions, measurements, causes, consequences and potential solutions for medical invalidation.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Assisted Self-Diagnosis and the Patient-Physician Relationship: Mixed Methods Study of Calibration, Participation, and Trust.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- "I hope to get some hope": balancing expectations, hope, and acceptance in naturally occurring consultations without a medical diagnosis.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2025Article
- 'I Do Take the Number Seriously, but I Don't Let My Moods Depend on It': Negotiating Self-Tracking Data With People Living With Long COVID in the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland.Sociology of health & illness · 2025Article
- Will psychology ever 'join hands' with disability studies? Opportunities and challenges in working towards structurally competent and disability-affirmative psychotherapy for energy limiting conditions.Medical humanities · 2025Article
- Assessing the influence of lived-experience experts on healthcare providers in a virtual community of practice: a qualitative study.Frontiers in health services · 2025Article
- "But when I come home…": How patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain account for their absent pain during naturally occurring clinical consultations.Qualitative research in medicine & healthcare · 2024Article
- The role of primary care in rare disorders: A qualitative study of parents and patients managing complex vascular anomalies.Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2024Article
- Is self-advocacy universally achievable for patients? The experiences of Australian women with cardiac disease in pregnancy and postpartum.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2023Article
- Acquiring a new understanding of illness and agency: a narrative study of recovering from chronic fatigue syndrome.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2023Article
- Support amid uncertainty: Long COVID illness experiences and the role of online communities.SSM. Qualitative research in health · 2022Article
- The healthcare experiences of women with cardiac disease in pregnancy and postpartum: A qualitative study.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2022Article
- Factors affecting pathways to care for children and adolescents with complex vascular malformations: parental perspectives.Orphanet journal of rare diseases · 2022Article
- Cardiac disease in pregnancy and the first year postpartum: a story of mental health, identity and connection.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2022Article
- Article
- Communicating Endometriosis Pain in France and Australia: An Interview Study.Frontiers in global women's health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issuedErratum.2017
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeClinical encounters related to medically unexplained physical symptoms (MUPS) are associated with high levels of conflict between patients and doctors. Collaborative difficulties are fused by the medical uncertainty that dominates these consultations. The main aim of this study is to explore the interactional dynamics of clinical encounters riddled by medical uncertainty, as experienced by people living with long-term medically unexplained fatigue in Norway.
methodA qualitative thematic analysis of written texts from 256 study participants.
resultsWe found that patients experience being met with disbelief, inappropriate psychological explanations, marginalisation of experiences, disrespectful treatment, lack of physical examination and damaging health advice. The main source of their discontent is not the lack of biomedical knowledge, but doctors who fail to communicate acknowledgement of patients' experiences, knowledge and autonomy. War metaphors are emblematic of how participants describe their medical encounters. The overarching storyline depicts experiences of being caught in a power struggle with doctors and health systems, fused by a lack of common conceptual ground.
conclusionWhen physical symptoms cannot be detected, explained and managed by biomedical knowledge and technology, good doctor-patient partnerships are crucial. Without clearly acknowledging patients' perspectives and capabilities in clinical practice, such partnerships cannot be achieved.
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