Sammanfattning
The biomedical model, focusing on the symptom to identify illness, has been a central task for
mental health workers. Symptoms can be regarded as a way of coping with life challenges. This
article describes the significance of a systematic focus on the patient’s coping strategies for
development of empathy among health personal. Focus group interviews with eight health workers
were applied. The study reveals the health workers reflected and expressed attitudes. The reflection
was characterized by different levels of understanding, where all levels were necessary to achieve a
comprehensive perspective of the patient. The results are presented as main theme, with theme and
sub theme. Implications for practice are discussed.