Kaitlin Sibbald focuses on the language of healthcare and how the metaphors used shape available options for treatment.
“I want to change healthcare provider education so that the experiences, strengths, worldviews and ideas of diverse students are validated during education and become part of the foundation of healthcare practice.”
@SibbaldKR
Metaphors help us to frame, understand, and evaluate new things. They draw our attention to certain ideas and ways of thinking. More importantly, but often invisibly, they draw our attention away from things. They hide things, or make certain ideas seem unreasonable. These are three common metaphors, how they shape our thinking, and questions to […]
Metaphors have great persuasive power. They often convey a new idea, how we should feel about it, and what we should do about it. For example, when crime is framed as a beast, people are more likely to view enforcement-oriented approaches as a solution. Whereas, when crime is framed as a virus, people are more […]
If you read the news about monkeypox, you’re likely to see it described as ‘spilling out’, ‘cropping up’, or ‘masquerading’. What you’re less likely to see is monkeypox described as a war. War metaphors have commonly been used throughout history to frame a wide variety of viruses, such as HIV, Ebola, and most recently COVID-19. […]
This article was originally published on The Conversation Canada on August 29, 2022. The transition to university or college is an exciting time for many young adults, but it can also be demanding and stressful. Young adults living with complex health conditions may face unique challenges with this transition. As health care providers with experience […]
Metaphors are important in healthcare because both the patient and the healthcare provider have information that it is crucial for the other to receive. However, this information isn’t necessarily packaged in a way that allows it to be communicated easily. A patient may have crucial information about their bodily experience necessary to tell the healthcare […]
This article was originally published on The Conversation Canada on June 22, 2022. As we pass the one-month milestone of the current monkeypox outbreak, reports are emerging that the World Health Organization (WHO) intends to change the name of the monkeypox virus to avoid stigma and discrimination. While this is an important step, more than a […]
New science needs new words. When we don’t have new words, we tend to borrow old ones that help us to understand the key parts of new science or technology. This appears in the name of the telephone – the telephone is a telegraph (tele) with sound (phonetics). It’s also used in how we describe […]
This article was written by Kaitlin Sibbald and Jasmine Mah and was originally published on The Conversation Canada on May 16, 2022. Half a million Canadians are living with dementia and one in five Canadians has cared for someone with dementia. Dementia is an umbrella term for many conditions causing “loss of memory, language, problem-solving […]
Words shape our decisions. Giving informed consent to participate in research is no exception. Certain metaphors make us more likely to want to participate and others drive us away. This is because of the associations attached to metaphors. For example, consider the research ‘guinea pig’. This metaphor was coined in 1913 by George Bernard Shaw, […]
We have been talking about our ‘healthcare heroes’ on the front line of the battle against COVID-19 since the pandemic began. Around the world, tributes to these heroes, including standing ovations from balconies, and murals lining the streets have emerged as ways of saying ‘thank-you’ to those who are caring for others, despite the difficult […]
