In this paper, I will critique an interaction I had with my sister, Hannah, regarding the state of her mental health and her struggles with anxiety. I will discuss our communication styles, as well as the specific relational skills utilized in our conversation, including: the relational capacities; the skills of letting be and being in sync; …show more content…
My instinct is to dissect her “problems” until such time as a solution(s) becomes evident, because I want to be able to “fix” it for her. Theoretically, I think that it will be much easier for me to engage with complexity and ambiguity in a situation where the other person is not someone that I love. This is not to say that my emotions would be detached; they simply would not be as significant of a factor. Furthermore, the relational capacity of intentionality involves “congruence between espoused values and values-in-use” (Doane & Varcoe, 2005, p. 207). I found that I did not have any difficulty applying this to my conversation with Hannah, because it has been previously established that our values are very similar, due to our situated-ness and constituted-ness. However, I recognize the value of this capacity in the health care context, because it has huge potential to shape both the quality and quantity of care that the client wants, particularly around end-of-life …show more content…
Empirical inquiry is defined as questioning what objective facts and evidence drives the conversation or action (Doane & Varcoe, 2005). I did not incorporate this style of inquiry into our conversation, because the situational details were less salient than how Hannah was feeling at the time. Moreover, contextual inquiry involves taking into account the circumstances surrounding the situation (Doane & Varcoe, 2005). While this approach is not germane to my conversation with my sister, it is especially so in the health care setting. In particular, it is important to pay attention to the sociopolitical factors that may affect clients (Doane & Varcoe, 2005), as well as other determinants of health that may shape their capacities (Stamler & Yui, 2011). Furthermore, ideological inquiry involves exploring the impacts of contexts, as well as challenging the ideas surrounding them that may have been taken for granted (Doane & Varcoe, 2005). This has huge implications in the health care setting, however, due to our familiarity, I did not employ it in conversation with my sister, because I already had that background knowledge. Finally, ethical inquiry is a way of relating in the world through the development of personal principles and values (Doane & Varcoe, 2005). This can be shaped by ideological inquiry, but reflects a much more profound sense of