HomeVulnerability in healthcare: thinking the body and the time of care
Vulnerability in healthcare: thinking the body and the time of care
La vulnérabilité en santé : penser le corps et le temps du soin
Published on Monday, November 13, 2023
Abstract
The multidisciplinary conference “Vulnerability in Healthcare” aims to bring together researchers and healthcare professionals to explore the notion of vulnerability at work in clinical care.
Announcement
Argument
The concept of vulnerability is theoretically complex and rarely explored in depth. However, it often serves as a foundation for research in healthcare ethics and the humanities. Typically, vulnerability is used to characterize a patient's diminished autonomy and to stress the importance of a compassionate approach on the part of the caregiver. A closer look, nevertheless, reveals a lack of support for the theoretical perspective that is deriving from the idea of an innate and impulsive morality, a kindness that seems to be fundamentally linked to care.
Whether we are talking about an extremely premature baby, a chronic patient, a person undergoing resuscitation, or a person at the end of life, vulnerability is a sign of the precariousness of vitality and the proximity of death, and it gives full meaning to the technical dimension of the caring gesture. It provides significance to the technical aspects of caregiving. The concept of vulnerability helps to consider subjective temporality and to perceive the exteriority of the painful body. The caregiver's role is challenged by daily exposure to the distress and anxiety of patients and their families, coupled with institutional expectations and demands.
Access to knowledge about the suffering of others and their experience of pain is difficult both in terms of time, space and social interaction. The caring relationship is not, therefore, a clear-cut link based on technical knowledge, nor is it based on feelings alone. It manifests as a combination of impersonal and personal elements, resulting in a paradoxical perception for the caregiver, who occupies a position that is both specialized and supportive, skilled and vulnerable.
This interdisciplinary conference aims to mobilize researchers from different countries and cultural contexts in the fields of humanities and social sciences (bioethics, philosophy, sociology, education and training sciences...) and health professionals to re-examine the concept of vulnerability, to analyze it in the context of current clinical situations, and to provide insights into vulnerability from observation and analysis in the field of care and support. Does vulnerability indicate weakness or failure? Is it a fundamental tension that permeates all interactions? The field of healthcare appears to transcend social and individual boundaries, thought, interpersonal interaction, and technical competence, mainly because it is rooted in vulnerability and the obligation to deal with it. Whether vulnerability is defined as inactivity, self-sacrifice, or the profound depth of human relationships, the concept of vulnerability requires an examination of the very nature of the clinical experience.
We suggest to the contributors to focus their analysis on the following lines (but not only):
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How can we think about the temporality of vulnerability in illness and in the care relationship for family caregivers and health professionals?
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What is a vulnerable body in care and in the institution?
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Who is the recipient of care in a health service?
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How do vulnerability and incapacity affect medical decision making?
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How can we consider the conflicting imperatives that permeate clinical practice as a
factor in the vulnerability of health professionals?
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What is the place of the patient's own experience of care in relation to professional caregivers, between vulnerability and expertise?
Submission guidelines
Conference languages: English and French.Length of presentation: 20 min + 10 min de discussionPaper proposal: A title, 5 key words and an abstract (400 to 500 words bibliography included).
Thematic workshop proposal: The proposal will include either 3 or 4 multi-fields papers, a title, five keywords and a general presentation (400 words maximum) of the workshop theme as well as the abstracts of each paper (about 200 words each). The complete proposal will be sent by the person in charge of the organization of the workshop.
All communication projects are welcome, and we especially encourage young researchers (PhD students, Masters students or postdoctoral researchers) to submit their proposals.
The organization is unable to offer funding to workshop contributors, but no registration fees will be charged.
Proposals for papers or workshops must be sent in PDF format to: thinkinghealth.toulouse@gmail.com
no later than December 22, 2023.
They will be reviewed by the Scientific Committee. Decisions will be sent out by the end of January 2024.
Information and program: https://penserlasante.wordpress.com
Scientific Committee
- Flora Bastiani (université Toulouse 2)
- Elisa Calvet (Université Toulouse2)
- Charlotte Piarulli (Université Toulouse 2)
- Michèle Saint-Jean (Université Toulouse 2)
Subjects
- Thought (Main category)
- Society > Sociology
- Society > Ethnology, anthropology
- Society > Science studies
- Society > History
- Mind and language > Education
- Society > Political studies
- Society > Law
Places
- Bâtiment Maison de la Recherche - Université Toulouse 2 Jean Jaurès
Toulouse, France (31)
Event attendance modalities
Full on-site event
Date(s)
- Friday, December 22, 2023
Keywords
- vulnérabilité, éthique, santé, biodroit, bioéthique, soin, corporéité
Contact(s)
- Comité d'organisation
courriel : remplois [dot] propositions2025 [at] gmail [dot] com
Reference Urls
Information source
- Flora Bastiani
courriel : flora [dot] bastiani [at] univ-tlse2 [dot] fr
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« Vulnerability in healthcare: thinking the body and the time of care », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Monday, November 13, 2023, https://doi.org/10.58079/1c6l
