nd architecture.
The book is divided into six parts. Parts one through four consist of major
presentations dealing with causes and consequences of dehumanization in
health care and the conceptualization of humanization and dehumanization.
Two commentaries follow each presentation. Part five is an overview of pertinent
remarks by symposium participants. Part six consists of five research
perspectives concerning problems of dehumanization of health care, related
theoretical and methodological issues, and research priorities.
In the major presentations, the causes and consequences of dehumanized
health care are identified, and humanization of health care is discussed, from
several disciplinary perspectives. In the first presentation, Howard draws
from relevant sociological literature the ingredients or factors of humanization
and then provides a conceptual scheme for operationalizing these factors and
suggests several approaches for measuring them. From a psychological perspective,
H. Leventhal takes a micro approach and proposes an informationprocessing
model to define the process of dehumanization and to explain its
origin and development during illness and treatment. He distinguishes between
self-depersonalization (division of self into psychological and physical
parts) and dehumanization (the feeling of being isolated from others). He
suggests that dehumanizing experiences can be avoided or reduced with
specific actions, such as preexamination preparation of patients, that redirect
the ongoing interplay between the individual's processing system and his
environment.