The salutogenic gaze: Theorising the practitioner role in complementary and alternative medicine consultations

Author:

Brosnan Caragh1ORCID,Tickner Campbell2,Davies Kate1,Heinsch Milena3,Steel Amie4,Vuolanto Pia5

Affiliation:

1. School of Humanities, Creative Industries and Social Sciences University of Newcastle Callaghan New South Wales Australia

2. School of Medicine and Public Health University of Newcastle Callaghan New South Wales Australia

3. School of Social Sciences University of Tasmania Hobart Tasmania Australia

4. Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine University of Technology Sydney Sydney New South Wales Australia

5. Research Centre for Knowledge, Science, Technology and Innovation Studies (TaSTI) Tampere University Tampere Finland

Abstract

AbstractResearch on why people use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) shows clients value the CAM consultation, where they feel listened to and empowered to control their own health. Such ‘empowerment’ through CAM use is often theorised as reflecting wider neoliberal imperatives of self‐responsibility. CAM users' perspectives are well studied, but there has been little sociological analysis of interactions within the CAM consultation. Specifically, it is unclear how user empowerment/self‐knowledge relates to the CAM practitioner's power and expert knowledge. We address this using audio‐recorded consultations and interviews with CAM practitioners to explore knowledge use in client‐practitioner interactions and its meaning for practitioners. Based on our analysis and drawing on Foucault (1973), The Birth of the Clinic: an archaeology of medical perception and Antonovsky (1979), Health, Stress and Coping, we theorise the operation of power/knowledge in the CAM practitioner‐client dyad by introducing the concept of the ‘salutogenic gaze’. This gaze operates in the CAM consultation with disciplining and productive effects that are oriented towards health promotion. Practitioners listen to and value clients' stories, but their gaze also incorporates surveillance and normalisation, aided by technologies that may or may not be shared with clients. Because the salutogenic gaze is ultimately transferred from practitioner to client, it empowers CAM users while simultaneously reinforcing the practitioner's power as a health expert.

Publisher

Wiley

Subject

Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health,Health Policy,Health (social science)

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