Changing treatments: Patient responses to doctors downgrading their medical authority
Résumé
In conversation analytical research, doctors have been shown to formulate the different parts of the medical consultations, such as the treatment recommendation, in a way that more or less includes the patients in the process. Doctors’ medical authority and patient agency are thus key notions to consider in the sequential unfolding of the decisions taken throughout the consultation. Aiming to study the patients’ reception of doctors downgrading their authority in addressing possible treatment changes in Swedish and English medical interactions, the article shows that patients either align with the shared responsibility by accepting or resisting a treatment proposition, or disalign with it by orienting to the doctor’s medical authority and refusing to claim patient agency. It is proposed that this difference is connected to the way doctors address the topic and the amount of authority they attribute to the patient. Propositions giving patients a moderate amount of responsibility seem preferable over open questions entailing a greater commitment, if one wishes to promote patient agency.
Origine : Fichiers éditeurs autorisés sur une archive ouverte
Licence : CC BY - Paternité
Licence : CC BY - Paternité