https://doi.org/10.67147/literariness.v1i2.044
Paediatric Perspectives in The Truth According to Blue: Juvenile Fiction’s Contributions to Patient-Centred Healthcare
MS. LEATITIA JOSHY
Research Scholar, Department of English,
T.K.M College of Arts and Science, Kollam
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-2490-5626.
DR ARSHAD AHAMMAD A.
Assistant Professor of English
Milad-E-Sherief Memorial College, Kayamkulam, Kerala
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-6199-864X.
Abstract: Convergence research is a remarkable and growing trend in the academic community that highlights the deep integration of knowledge, methodologies, and expertise across various fields. Medical humanities typifies this interdisciplinary union by synthesizing a range of disciplines such as humanities, social sciences, arts and medicine/healthcare. Through engagement with stories, novels, and essays to evaluate the human experience of illness, healing and care, medical humanities facilitate empathy and broaden the viewpoints of doctors and caregivers. This paper explores how this interdisciplinary framework of medical humanities aids the implementation of patient-centred care. The research is based on Eve Yohalem’s middle-grade adventure novel The Truth According to Blue (2020). The novel revolves around the life of a thirteen-year-old protagonist who has Type 1 diabetes. Grounded in the life experiences of a paediatric patient, the study explores how the novel emphasizes the importance of recognising children’s subjective experiences within clinical and caregiving circumstances. This study employs textual analysis as the primary method to examine language, themes, symbols, and pattern to discover implicit messages, biases, and social values in the text. Complementing textual analysis, discourse analysis is employed to analyse how illness, care and paediatric subjectivity are constructed in the novel. The analysis reveals that children’s literature is a powerful tool for facilitating communication between children, parents and clinicians. This suggests an expanded scope of children’s literature as a medium of expression for juvenile patients to validate their autonomy in a paternalistic model of healthcare where decision-making authority solely lies with doctors.
Keywords: Convergence research, Health Humanities, Children’s fiction, Patient-centred care
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