The use of metaphors by service users with diverse long-term conditions: a secondary qualitative data analysis

Heidi Lempp; Chris Tang; Emily Heavey; Katherine Bristowe; Helen Allan; Vanessa Lawrence; Beatriz Santana Suarez; Ruth Williams; Lisa Hinton; Karen Gillett; Anne Arber

doi:10.4081/qrmh.2023.11336

Authors

Heidi Lempp Department of Inflammation Biology, King’s College London, United Kingdom. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2509-3656
Chris Tang School of Education, King’s College London, United Kingdom. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8780-0224
Emily Heavey School of Human and Health Sciences, University of Huddersfield, Kirklees, United Kingdom. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0920-7705
Katherine Bristowe Cicely Saunders Institute of Palliative Care, Policy & Rehabilitation, King’s College London, United Kingdom. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1809-217X
Helen Allan School of Health and Education, Middlesex University, London, United Kingdom. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9391-0385
Vanessa Lawrence Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, United Kingdom. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7852-2018
Beatriz Santana Suarez Department of Inflammation Biology, King’s College London, United Kingdom.
Ruth Williams Department of Inflammation Biology, King’s College London, United Kingdom. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2474-0092
Lisa Hinton Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, United Kingdom.
Karen Gillett Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care King’s College, London, United Kingdom.
Anne Arber
a.arber@surrey.ac.uk
Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5930-811X

Long-term conditions and accompanied co-morbidities now affect about a quarter of the UK population. Enabling patients and caregivers to communicate their experience of illness in their own words is vital to developing a shared understanding of the condition and its impact on patients’ and caregivers’ lives and in delivering person-centred care. Studies of patient language show how metaphors provide insight into the physical and emotional world of the patient, but such studies are often limited by their focus on a single illness. The authors of this study undertook a secondary qualitative data analysis of 25 interviews, comparing the metaphors used by patients and parents of patients with five longterm conditions. Analysis shows how similar metaphors can be used in empowering and disempowering ways as patients strive to accept illness in their daily lives and how metaphor use depends on the manifestation, diagnosis, and treatment of individual conditions. The study concludes with implications for how metaphorical expressions can be attended to by healthcare professionals as part of shared care planning.

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Lempp, Heidi, Chris Tang, Emily Heavey, Katherine Bristowe, Helen Allan, Vanessa Lawrence, Beatriz Santana Suarez, Ruth Williams, Lisa Hinton, Karen Gillett, and Anne Arber. 2024. “The Use of Metaphors by Service Users With Diverse Long-Term Conditions: A Secondary Qualitative Data Analysis”. Qualitative Research in Medicine and Healthcare 7 (3). https://doi.org/10.4081/qrmh.2023.11336.