Collegian
Volume 14, Issue 3 , Pages 9-14, 2007

The Nocebo Effect for Women in Waiting

School of Nursing and Midwifery, Charles Sturt University, New South Wales

Article Outline

This paper, drawn from a larger phenomenological study, critiques the effects of “waiting” for women when they have an abnormal Pap test result. The hurt and injury incurred by women who perceive they have no choice but to become patient waiters in a health system that seemingly values the time of the health care provider over the health care recipient is discussed. These iatrogenic, unintended, harmful consequences are referred to as the nocebo effect. The participants provide the principal voices and their stories are dialogued to a lesser degree with the literature and the discourse of critical theorists who question power relationships in health professional practice. The purpose of this paper is served when the women's stories strip away some of the taken-for-granted, invisible aspects of the health professional's power.

Key words:  cervical screening , nocebo effect , power relationships , waiting , women's health

No full text is available. To read the body of this article, please view the PDF online.

 

Back to Article Outline

References 

  1. Antoni M , Goodkin K . Life stress and moderator variables in the promotion of cervical neoplasia – II. Life event dimensions . Journal of Psychosomatic Research . 1989;33:457–467
  2. Antrop I , Buyssem A , Roeyers H , Oost P . Activity in children with ADHD during waiting situations in the classroom: A pilot study . British Journal of Educational Psychology . 2005;75(1):51–69
  3. Baker C , Wuest J , Stern P . Method slurring: The grounded theory/phenomenology example . Journal of Advanced Nursing . 1992;17:1355–1360
  4. In:  Benner P editors. Interpretive phenomenology: Embodiment, caring and ethics in health and illness . Thousand Oaks: Sage; 1994;
  5. Brown D, Shew M, Qadadri B, Neptune N, Vargas M, Tu W, et al. A longitudinal study of genital human papillomavirus infection in a cohort of closely followed adolescent women . Journal of Infectious Diseases . 2005;191(2):182–192
  6. Cheek J , Shoebridge J , Willis E , Zadoroznyj M . Society and health: Social theory for health workers . Melbourne: Longman.; 1996;
  7. Clarke E , Hatcher J , McKeown-Eyssen G , Lickrish G . Cervical dysplasia: Association with sexual behavior, smoking, and oral contraception use . American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology . 1985;151:612–616
  8. Colaizzi P . Psychological research as the phenomenologist views it . In:  Valle R ,  King M editor. Existential-phenomenological alternatives for psychology . New York: Oxford University Press; 1978;p. 48–71
  9. Connor-Spady B , Sanmugasunderam S , Courtright P , McGurran J , Noseworth T , The Steering Committee of the Western Canada Waiting List Project  . Determinants of patient satisfaction with cataract surgery and length of time on the waiting list . British Journal of Ophthalmology . 2004;88:1305–1309
  10. Crotty M . Phenomenology and nursing research . Melbourne: Churchill Livingstone.; 1996;
  11. Dietsch, E. (1999). Women's health nurses annual report July 1998-June 1999. Greater Murray Area Health Services, Network 2.
  12. Dietsch, E. (2003). The ‘lived experience’ of women with a cervical screening detected abnormality: A phenomenological study, PhD Thesis. Bathurst: Charles Sturt University.
  13. Eysenck H , Grossarth-Maticek R . Creative novation behaviour therapy as a prophylactic treatment for cancer and coronary heart disease: Part II – effects of treatment . Behaviour Research and Therapy . 1991;29(1):17–31
  14. Fahy K , Smith P . From sick role to subject positions: A new approach to the medical encounter . Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine . 1999;3(1):71–93
  15. Fisher S . In the patient's best interest: Women and the politics of medical decisions . New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press; 1986;
  16. Forss A , Tishelman C , Widmark C , Sachs L . Women's experience of cervical cellular changes: An unintentional transition from healthy to liminality . Sociology of Health and Illness . 2004;26:306–325
  17. Foucault M . In:  Gordon C ,  Gordon C ,  Marshall L ,  Mepham JK ,  Soper K editor. Power/knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings 1972-1977 . Brighton: Harvester Press; 1980;
  18. Frankenberg R . Your time or mine': Temporal contradictions of biomedical practice . In:  Frankenberg R editors. Time, health and medicine . London: Sage; 1992;p. 1–30
  19. Fraser N . Unruly practices: Power, discourse and gender in contemporary social theory . Minnesota: University of Minneapolis.; 1989;
  20. Habermas J . Knowledge and human interests: A general perspective . London: Heinemann; 1971; (J. Shapiro, Trans.).
  21. Habermas J . Theory and practice . Boston: Viking; 1971; (J. Biertal, Trans.).
  22. Illich I . Limits to medicine. Medical nemesis: The exploration of health . New York: Penguin.; 1976;
  23. Illich I . Medical nemesis: The expropriation of health . New York: Pantheon.; 1976;
  24. Insinga R , Glass A , Rush B . Diagnosis and outcomes in cervical cancer screening: A population based study . American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology . 2004;191(1):105–113
  25. Kapsalis E . Public privates: Performing gynaecology from both ends of the speculum . Durham: Duke University Press.; 1997;
  26. Kavanagh A , Broom D . Women's understanding of abnormal cervical smear test results: A qualitative interview study . British Medical Journal . 1997;314:1388–1391
  27. Kockelmans J . Phenomenology: The philosophy of Edmund Husserl and its interpretation . New York: Doubleday.; 1967;
  28. Larsen M , Oldeide C , Malterud K . ‘Not so bad after all’ … Women's experiences of pelvic examinations . Family Practice . 1997;14(2):148–152
  29. Leung G , Castan-Comeo S , McGhee S , Wong I , Johnston J . Waiting time, doctor shopping and non-attendance at specialist outpatient clinics: Case control study of 6495 individuals in Hong Kong . Medical Care . 2003;41:1293–1300
  30. Lupton D . The imperative of health: Public health and the regulated body . London: Sage.; 1995;
  31. MacPherson K . Feminist methods: A new paradigm for nursing research . Advances in Nursing Science . 1983;5(2):17–25
  32. McKie L . The art of surveillance or reasonable prevention? . Sociology of Health and Illness . 1995;17:441–457
  33. Minichiello V , Aroni R , Timewell E , Alexander L . In-depth interviewing . 2nd ed.. Melbourne: Addison Wesley-Longman; 1996;
  34. NSW Cervical Screening Program & the NSW Pap Test Register. (2005). Annual statistical report 2003. Sydney: Cumberland Hospital. Retrieved January 24, 2007 from http://www.csp.nsw.gov.au
  35. Oakley A . The captured womb: A history of the medical care of pregnant women . Oxford: Blackwell.; 1986;
  36. Oakley A . Essays on women, medicine and health . Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.; 1993;
  37. O'Brien Cousins S , Edwards K . Alice in menopauseland: The jabberwocky of a medicalized middle age . Health Care for Women International . 2002;23:325–343
  38. Odent M . Launching CENEP (Campaign for eliminating the nocebo effect of prenatal care) . Primal Health Research . 1994;2(2):3–6
  39. Omery A . Phenomenology: A method for nursing research . Advances in Nursing Science . 1983;5(2):49–63
  40. Oudhoff J , Timmermans D , Bijen A , van der Wal G . Waiting for elective surgery: Physical, psychological and social consequences . Australian and New Zealand Journal of Surgery . 2004;74:361–367
  41. In:  Parse R ,  Coyne B ,  Smith M editor. Nursing research: Qualitative methods . Bowie, MD: Brady; 1985;
  42. Pereira D , Antoni M , Danielson A , Simon T , Efantis-Potter J , O'Sullivan M . Inhibited interpersonal coping style predicts poorer adherence to scheduled clinic visits in Human Immunodeficiency Virus infected women at risk of cervical cancer . Annals of Behavioral Medicine . 2004;28(3):195–202
  43. Posner T . What's in a smear? . Science as Culture . 1991;2(2):167–187
  44. Quilliam S . Positive smear: The emotional issues and what can be done . Health Education Journal . 1990;49(1):19–20
  45. Robinson D , Bell C , Moller H , Basnett I . Effect of the UK Government's 2-week target on waiting times on women with breast cancer in Southeast England . British Journal of Cancer . 2003;89:492–496
  46. Sevin B . Social implications of sexually transmitted cancer . Journal of Women's Health and Gender Based Medicine . 1999;8:759–766
  47. Taylor C , Keller M , Egan J . Advice from affected persons about living with human papillomavirus infection . Image — the Journal of Nursing Scholarship . 1997;29(1):27–32
  48. Teale G , Moffitt D , Mann C , Luesley D . Management guidelines for women with normal colposcopy after low grade cervical abnormalities: Population study . British Medical Journal . 2000;320:1693–1696
  49. Willis E . Health professionals: Workplace reform and resistance . In:  Grbich C editors. Health in Australia: Sociological concepts and issues . Sydney: Pearson Longman; 2004;p. 290–309

PII: S1322-7696(08)60559-4

doi:10.1016/S1322-7696(08)60559-4

Collegian
Volume 14, Issue 3 , Pages 9-14, 2007

Article Tools