Gratitude in health care: a meta-narrative review.
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Day, Giskin
Robert, Glenn
Rafferty, Anne Marie
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Research into gratitude as a significant sociological and psychological phenomenon has proliferated in the past two decades. However, there is little consensus on how it should be conceptualized or investigated empirically. We present a meta-narrative review that focuses on gratitude in health care, with an emphasis on research exploring interpersonal experiences in the context of care provision. Six meta-narratives from literatures across the humanities, sciences, and medicine are identified, contextualized, and discussed: gratitude as social capital; gifts; care ethics; benefits of gratitude; gratitude and staff well-being; and gratitude as an indicator of quality of care. Meta-narrative review was a valuable framework for making sense of theoretical antecedents and findings in this developing area of research. We conclude that greater attention needs to be given to what constitutes "evidence" in gratitude research and call for qualitative studies to better understand and shape the role and implications of gratitude in health care.
Date Issued
2020-09-13
Date Acceptance
2020-09-01
Citation
Qualitative Health Research, 2020, 30 (14), pp.2303-2315
ISSN
1049-7323
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Start Page
2303
End Page
2315
Journal / Book Title
Qualitative Health Research
Volume
30
Issue
14
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32924863
Subjects
gratitude
health care
meta-narrative review
psychology
qualitative
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
United States
Date Publish Online
2020-09-13