title: A qualitative study of key stakeholders' perspectives on compassion in healthcare and the development of a framework for compassionate interpersonal relations.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To report findings from a qualitative study of key stakeholders' perspectives on 'compassion' in the health care context. To present the 'Framework for Compassionate Interpersonal Relations'.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Although many research articles, health policies and health care strategies identify compassion as an underpinning value and key component of health care quality, identifying a unified definition of compassion is challenging. For Higher Education Institutions implementing 'values-based' recruitment processes, a clearer understanding of this core concept is vital.
  
  
  METHODS
  Exploratory, qualitative design.
  
  
  METHODS
  Academic staff, health care students, clinicians and service users (n = 45), participated in nine focus groups where they were asked to define compassion in the context of health care. Data were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four overarching themes were drawn from the data. The first theme centred on the participants' definitions of compassion, while the second identified compassionate behaviours. The third theme related to the barriers and threats to compassionate practice and the fourth, focused on ways to support compassion in practice. Participants believed that the health care staff should be 'consistently compassionate', and were emphatic that compassion should not be substituted with a 'care without engagement' approach.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings concur with other research, which identifies the link between compassion and empathy and the importance of establishing meaningful connections with others. While participants in this study recognised the pressures of health care work and accepted that the expectation of 'consistent compassion' was not necessarily realistic, it was still seen as an important goal.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Participants held clear expectations regarding practitioners' communication skills and used these as a proxy for compassionate practice. The 'Framework for Compassionate Inter-personal Relations' may be used to promote reflection on the implementation of compassionate practice. It may also be used to highlight areas of focus when conducting values-based recruitment activities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Care Practice, Coventry University, Coventry, UK.
authors.forename: Rosie
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kneafsey
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research in Psychology, Behaviour and Achievement, Coventry University, Coventry, UK.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: Coventry University, Coventry, UK.
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sein
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Care Practice, Coventry University, Coventry, UK.
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chamley
authors.affiliation: Coventry University, Coventry, UK.
authors.forename: Joanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Parsons
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003142:Communication; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D057240:Patient Preference; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: clinical practice; compassion; empathy; focus groups; health care; qualitative research; thematic analysis; values