Elaborating, sharing, narrating: a narrative analysis of three approaches to health communication

Abstract Communication, despite being considered a key aspect in medical practice, has not received the corresponding attention both on literature and medical training as has the technological and biomedical aspects. As a reaction to this context emerged fields of knowledge proposing to reflect and strengthen aspects of communication between the physician and the patient. In this article, we perform a narrative analysis of the literature of three of such approaches to communication in health: the Balint Groups, the Patient Centered Care and Narrative-Based Medicine. The study highlights the approximations and distances between these approaches, along with the recognition of the potency of each of them in the different contexts of medical practice.