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Qualitative
Patient taciturnity in health counselling was understood in terms of 4 participation frames

https://doi.org/10.1136/ebn.5.1.30

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    Kettunen T, Poskiparta M, Liimatainen L, et al.Taciturn patients in health counseling at a hospital: passive recipients or active participators?Qual Health Res2001 May;11::399–422OpenUrlCrossRefPubMedWeb of Science

    QUESTION: How do taciturn (silent) patients communicate during hospital counselling sessions?

    Design

    Qualitative study using an adaptation of conversation analysis to analyse data.

    Setting

    A hospital in Finland.

    Patients

    38 patients (age range 18–70 y, 63% women) and 19 nurses who participated in 38 nurse–patient health counselling sessions in 7 different wards.

    Methods

    Genuine patient counselling sessions related to admission, discharge, preoperative issues, and patient illness were followed up with individual interviews. Videotapes were transcribed verbatim, including stammering, and supplemented with information about periods of silence, overlapping speech, intonation, and some non-verbal communication. The tapes and transcripts were analysed using conversation analysis to examine how “turns” were taken with regard to the other participant's speech and the implications each turn had for the next.

    Main findings

    The findings focused on 18 patients who were identified as taciturn or silent. They spoke little about themselves, did not …

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    Footnotes

    • Sources of funding: Ministry of Health and Social Affairs of Finland and the Finnish Cultural Foundation.

    • For correspondence: Ms T Kettunen, Department of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Finland.