Affiliation:
1. Centre for Research in Communication and Culture, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Loughborough University, Loughborough, LE11 3TU, UK
Abstract
Abstract
As the main symptom in palliative care, pain requires careful assessment. Repeating patient answers is one recommended communication technique for helping convey to patients that they have been heard, and to encourage them to say more. We examined 23 episodes where experienced doctors repeat patients' answers with mirrored rhythm and downward-final intonation, captured in pain assessments video-recorded in 37 consultations in a large UK hospice. Using conversation analysis, our aim was to determine whether or not the repeats invite additional talk, and if so, how they do so. Our findings reveal lexical and prosodic features of doctors’ repeated pain answers that signal completion of the sequence. At the same time, because the patient has greater epistemic access to their own pain, a repeat can also invite confirmation or disconfirmation. The patients in our data sometimes—but not always—respond to the repeat with confirmation or further talk. We conclude that repeating patient answers with mirrored rhythm and downward-final intonation provides a no-obligation opportunity for patient-led confirmation, disconfirmation, or expansion of pain descriptions, particularly when the pain matter is new, revised, or has been problematic to report.
Funder
The Health Foundation
National Institute for Health Research Career Development Fellowship award
National Institute for Health Research
NHS
NIHR
Department of Health
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Subject
Linguistics and Language,Language and Linguistics,Communication
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