Collaborative Embodied Learning Among Hemodialysis Patients: A Cultural Ethnography From Southern Thailand

Current patient education models for chronic kidney disease rely on compliance-based approaches that position patients as passive recipients. This ethnographic study examines how hemodialysis patients in Southern Thailand develop collaborative embodied learning relationships extending beyond conventional biomedical paradigms. During 10 months of fieldwork with 27 participants at Phatthalung Hospital, we employed educational ethnography within Scheper-Hughes and Lock’s (1987) three bodies framework. Our findings identified three interconnected mechanisms. First, embodied expertise develops through crisis-driven learning and metaphorical framework construction. Second, collaborative knowledge networks emerge through family systems, peer communities, and provider partnerships. Third, cultural negotiation enables identity reconstruction as patients integrate traditional healing with biomedical requirements. This study proposes three theoretical frameworks, multi-modal learning pathways, collaborative knowledge networks, and cultural innovation, transforming patient education from information transmission toward collaborative knowledge construction that recognizes the simultaneous operation of embodied experience, cultural resources, and power negotiations.