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Lifeworld-led Healthcare: Revisiting a Humanising Philosophy that Integrates Emerging Trends

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Abstract

In this paper, we describe the value and philosophy of lifeworld-led care. Our purpose is to give a philosophically coherent foundation for lifeworld-led care and its core value as a humanising force that moderates technological progress. We begin by indicating the timeliness of these concerns within the current context of citizen-oriented, participative approaches to healthcare. We believe that this context is in need of a deepening philosophy if it is not to succumb to the discourses of mere consumerism. We thus revisit the potential of Husserl’s notion of the lifeworld and how lifeworld-led care could provide important ideas and values that are central to the humanisation of healthcare practice. This framework provides a synthesis of the main arguments of the paper and is finally expressed in a model of lifeworld-led care that includes its core value, core perspectives, relevant indicative methodologies and main benefits. The model is offered as a potentially broad-based approach for integrating many existing practices and trends. In the spirit of Husserl’s interest in both commonality and variation, we highlight the central, less contestable foundations of lifeworld-led care, without constraining the possible varieties of confluent practices.

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Todres, L., Galvin, K. & Dahlberg, K. Lifeworld-led Healthcare: Revisiting a Humanising Philosophy that Integrates Emerging Trends. Med Health Care Philos 10, 53–63 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-006-9012-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-006-9012-8

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