The shiny new object: Deconstructing the patient-oriented paradigm in health sciences

Abstract

Rationale: A 'patient-oriented' research paradigm, also known as patient and public engagement, has infiltrated the field of health sciences and continues to spread. At first blush, it is difficult to reprove anything labelled 'patient-oriented'; however, the patient-oriented paradigm may easily become an ideological 'good', leading to unintended consequences that may well prove more detrimental than beneficial. While patient-oriented research has its roots in more radical forms of patient and public engagement, its recent instantiation betrays its roots and forecloses on more radical forms of engagement, such as critical participatory research.

Aim and objectives: The objective of this article is to deconstruct the patient-oriented research narrative and to demonstrate how such a discourse imposes itself as a dominant approach in health sciences.

Approach: Following Derrida's deconstructive approach, we bring to light the unexamined presuppositions, false pretences, and presumed 'goodness' and 'naturalness' of patient-oriented discourse.

Discussion: By deconstructing the patient-oriented narrative we demonstrate how pre-existing power structures (biomedical, economic, etc.) shape the conduct of the approach and serve to depoliticize the truly participatory aspects of research. Rather than being modelled on the evidence-based movement or seen as its natural 'evolution', patient-oriented research should resist by affirming itself as a radical form that is both participatory and emancipatory.

Keywords: critique; deconstruction; health sciences; participatory research; poststructuralism.