What place does compassion hold in the conduct and production of health services research?

Abstract

Compassion is a word that conveys a sense of action taking place in response to suffering or distress. Over recent years we have seen considerable international debate surrounding compassion within healthcare practice. However, the topic of compassion has been little discussed in terms of the production of health services research. This paper seeks to address this gap by raising compassion within health services research as an area warranting consideration by those planning, managing and conducting such work. It considers compassion towards study participants when recruiting, collecting and analysing data, and also in relation to researchers involved in day to day activities associated with executing a project. Research leaders play a role in ensuring that compassion is not overlooked for those who provide or collect and interpret data. Furthermore, self-compassion could be fostered among researchers to buffer against the everyday activities of their job that have the potential to cause anxiety and distress.