The Psychological Model of Scaffolding for the Development of the Healthcare Relationship

Abstract

Taking into account the current transformation of the healthcare systems in the Western societies, the authors argue that several challenges can be addressed only starting from a relational perspective. In the field of the health practices, psychological vision has been addressed for a long time on single individuals (generally the patients) in order to offer sustain and help to treat their suffering during a disease. In the authors' perspective, being a patient means to take up a positioning within a cultural-normative frame. In this sense, the psychological intervention requires to be directed toward the relational field. The proposal is aimed to present the constitutive elements and tenets of a clinical psychological model of intervention aimed to develop the healthcare relation: the scaffolding for the healthcare relationship. It is based on a clinical, semiotic, and dynamic perspectives of health psychology. By its implementation, the aims of ownership, cum-sensum, sharing decision making, and emotional elaboration are pursued.