Eva van Reenen

Profile

Eva van Reenen (1990) completed her Master’s degree in Care Ethics and Policy with honors in 2015. For her thesis, she examined the medical school curriculum through the lens of healthcare ethics. After completing her Bachelor’s degree in Medicine in 2012 and deciding not to pursue that path further, she felt a need to take a closer look at the program and the underlying medical ethics. Insights from healthcare ethics could enrich medical ethics and the training of physicians, leading to a healthcare practice that focuses on the individual patient and his or her needs. After completing her Master’s in Care Ethics and Policy, she had the opportunity to participate in a study at the University of Groningen on treatment adherence among MS patients. For 1.5 years, she conducted a qualitative, phenomenological study on the experiences of MS patients with the use of oral medication. Since 2020, Van Reenen has been conducting doctoral research at the UvH within the Department of Care Ethics on uncertainty in healthcare, specifically among people with MS.

Following previous studies on medical education and medication use among people with MS, Van Reenen’s current research focuses on uncertainty in healthcare, specifically among people with MS. Healthcare is permeated by uncertainty—uncertainty about how care should be provided, translating research findings into clinical practice, the significance of a diagnosis for the individual patient, and so on. For patients, this uncertainty can lead to negative psychological consequences, such as fear, anxiety, avoidance of decision-making, increased vulnerability, and even depression. It is therefore not surprising that doctors and other healthcare providers strive to reduce uncertainty. Some forms of uncertainty can be alleviated by providing specific information or appropriate communication. However, this is not always the case, for example, in the case of existential uncertainty or uncertainty arising from and concerning human existence. Evidence-based medicine aligns with the ideal of reducing uncertainty but obscures the fact that uncertainty can never be completely or permanently eliminated. This also applies when there are different forms of uncertainty (e.g., scientific and existential) with different loci (in the physician and the patient), resulting in ineffective or even harmful communication. Research on uncertainty focuses primarily on the scientific, practical, and psychosocial aspects of uncertainty and less on its existential dimension. Understanding this experience among patients is important for healthcare providers, especially since it cannot be eliminated; instead, ways must be found to cope with it. For her doctoral research, Van Reenen is following 20 people with relapsing-remitting MS (a chronic and highly uncertain disease due to its unpredictable course), shortly after their diagnosis and for a period of two years. It is a prospective, phenomenological study of how uncertainty is experienced, lived, constructed, and mitigated.