Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37887516›Full record

ArticleBehavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland)2023

Influence of Positive Thinking Ideology on Physician Representations of Cancer.

Luis Felipe Higuita-Gutiérrez, Diego Alejandro Estrada-Mesa, Walter Alfredo Salas-Zapata, Jaiberth Antonio Cardona-Arias

Abstract read
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Article in Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland), 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Luis Felipe Higuita-GutiérrezFacultad de Medicina, Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia, Medellín 050016, Colombia.ORCID 0000-0003-1361-3124
Diego Alejandro Estrada-MesaFacultad de Medicina, Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia, Medellín 050016, Colombia.
Walter Alfredo Salas-ZapataSchool of Microbiology, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín 050016, Colombia.
Jaiberth Antonio Cardona-AriasSchool of Microbiology, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín 050016, Colombia.ORCID 0000-0002-7101-929X

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

To understand the influence of positive thinking ideology on cancer representations among physicians in the city of Medellín.

methodsThis qualitative study was conducted on the basis of the theoretical and methodological elements of Corbin and Strauss's grounded theory. Fourteen physicians were included and selected according to the criteria of maximum variation for education, years of study, and personal and family history of cancer. The information was collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed with open, axial, and selective coding.

resultsthe ideology of positive thinking has managed to permeate the medical discourse and the representations that they form about the etiology and treatment of cancer. Physicians place the mind, emotions, attitude, and positive thinking as determinants of the origin of the disease and the response to therapy. To argue this link, they use two strategies: (i) a sophisticated and specialized discourse that involves relationships among thoughts, genetics, the neurological, immune and endocrine system and (ii) a mystical and less rational discourse that emphasizes the omnipotence of the mind and thoughts. In no case was the idea of positive thinking rejected or in disagreement with this style of thinking expressed.

conclusionThe fact of linking the disease with mental factors refers to the mind-body dualism and generates a responsibility of the patients on the etiology and therapeutics of the disease, as well as an erasure of the social and political determinants of cancer. The technical discourse and the symbolic capital of physicians offer scientific legitimacy to these ideas and can become performative for patients.

Indexed as

cancerpositive psychologyqualitative researchthe ideology of positive thinking

Identifiers

PMID37887516
PMCPMC10604145

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