EMPATIA: A Guide for Communicating the Diagnosis of Neuromuscular Diseases

Isabella Araujo Mota Fernandes (), Renata Oliveira Almeida Menezes and Guilhermina Rego
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Isabella Araujo Mota Fernandes: Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal
Renata Oliveira Almeida Menezes: Law Department, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Caico 59300-000, Brazil
Guilhermina Rego: Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 16, 1-15

Abstract: Introduction: Neuromuscular diseases comprise a heterogeneous group of genetic syndromes that lead to progressive muscle weakness, resulting in functional limitation. There is a gap in the literature regarding the communication of the diagnosis of such diseases, compromising the autonomy of patients and families, besides causing stress on the assistant physician. Objectives: Developing a guide to reduce communication barriers in the diagnosis of neuromuscular diseases. Methodology: Systematic review, after searching the descriptors (“Muscular Diseases” OR “Neuromuscular Diseases”) AND (“Truth Disclosure” OR “Bad news communication” OR “Breaking bad News”) in the Pubmed, Bireme, and Scopus websites, and these results were analyzed through narrative textual synthesis. Results: 16 articles were submitted to the final analysis, giving rise to seven steps to support the communication process. These are Empathy, Message, Prognosis, Reception, Time, Individualization, and Autonomy. Discussion and conclusion: The empathic transmission of the message and the prognosis must accommodate the feelings of the interlocutors with different information needs. In this way, communication planning optimizes the time and individualizes each context, respecting the autonomy of those involved. EMPATIA reflects the bioethical and interdisciplinary analysis of the literature and comes to fill the gap related to the communication of bad news in neuromuscular diseases.

Keywords: truth disclosure; neuromuscular diseases; physician-patient relations; communication (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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