Interpersonal Meaning in Doctors’ Interrogatives From the Respective of Systemic Functional Grammar

Xi LUO

Abstract


Objectives: To carry out a systemic functional research on the interpersonal meaning realized in Chinese doctor-patient conversations from the perspective of doctors’ choice of interrogative.

Methods: Data were randomly collected from conversations between doctors and outpatients in one hospital in China, while being analyzed in terms of the interpersonal meaning from the SFL perspective. Statistical analysis was conducted by using SPSS 17.0.

Results: (1) Interrogatives are also favored in doctor-patient conversations in China as compared with findings from other studies (Brody, 1992; Smith, et al., 1998; Meeuwesen, et al, 2007), but Chinese doctors dominate in the whole process of diagnosis and treatment, exerting great influence on the patient. (2) Yes-no interrogatives are favored more by doctors practicing Traditional Chinese Medicine than by those in other clinic departments. (3) Both yes-no interrogatives and alterative interrogatives can be quickly responded to, but doctors in China usually ignore this, unaware of the importance of building harmonious interpersonal relationships. Practice implications: This research may enhance the efficiency of treatment and decrease medical disputes caused by bad communications.


Keywords


Interrogative clause; Doctor-patient conversation; Interpersonal meaning

Full Text:

PDF

References


Brody, H. (1992). The healer’s power. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Chen, W. C., Huang, J. K., Chang, C. H., Chen, J. S., Liou, W. C., & Yang, Y. H. (2015). Influence of gender on authority of outpatient doctor patient communication-a perspective of multiculturism. Urological Science, 26, 536-549.

Frankel R. M. (1984). From sentence to sequence: understanding the medical encounter through microinteractional analysis. Discourse Processes, 7, 135-170.

Frankel, R. M. (1990). Talking in interviews: A dispreference for patient-initiated questions in physician-patient encounters. In G. Psathas (Ed.), Interaction competence (pp.231-262). Washington DC: University Press of America.

Graber, M. A., Randles, B. D., Ely, J. W. & Monnahan, J.(2008). Answering clinical questions in the ED. American Journal of Emergency Medicine, 26, 144-147.

Halliday, M. A. K., & Matthiessen, C. M. I. M. (2004). An introduction to functional grammar (3rd edn.). London & New York: Hodder Arnold.

Halliday, M. A. K., & Matthiessen, C. M. I. M. (2014). Halliday’s introduction to functional grammar (4th ed.). London & New York: Routledge.

Heritage, J., & Clayman, S. (2010). Talk in action: Interactions, identities, and institutions. Hong Kong: Wiley-Blackwell.

Ibrahim, Y. (2001). Doctor and patient questions as a measure of doctor-centredness in UAE hospitals. English for Special Purposes, 20, 331-344.

Jefferson, G. (1974). Error Correction as an Interactional Resource. Language in Society, 2, 181-199.

Liu, X. C., Rohrer, W., Luo, A., Fang, Z., He, T. H., & Xie, W. Z. (2015). Doctor–patient communication skills training in mainland China: A systematic review of the literature. Patient Education and Counseling, 9, 3-14.

Locher, M. (2006). Advice online: Advice-giving in an American internet health column. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Martin, J., & White, P. (2005). The Language of Evaluation: Appraisal in English. London: Palgrave Macmilian.

Meeuwesen, L., Tromp, F., Schouten, B. C., & Harmsen, J. A. M. (2007). Cultural differences in managing information during medical interaction: How does the physician get a clue? Patient Education and Counseling, 67, 183-190.

Roter, D. L., & Hall, J. A. (2006). Doctors talking with patients / patients talking with doctors: improving communication in medical visits. London: Praeger Publishers.

Smith, R. C., Lyles, J. S., Mettler, J., Stoffelmayr, B. E.,Van Egeren, L. F., Marshall, A. A., et al. (1998). Effectiveness of intensive training for residents in interviewing skills. Ann Intern Med., 128, 118-126.

Street, R. L. (1991). Information-giving in medical consultations: the influence of patients’ communicative styles and personal characteristics. Soc. Sci. Med., 32, 541.

Ten Have, P. (1991). Talk and institution: A reconsideration of the ‘‘asymmetry’’ of doctor–patient interaction. In D. Boden & D. H. Zimmerman (Eds.), Talk and social structure: Studies in ethnomethodology and conversation analysis. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Thompson，G．(2004). Introducing Functional Grammar. London: Arnold.

Tsai, M. H. (2010). Managing topics of birth and death in doctor–patient communication. Journal of Pragmatics, 42, 1350-1363.

Wang, B. W. (2013). Doctor-patient communication starts from medical students. Journal of Medical Colleges of PLA, 28, 248-251.

Wu, H., Zhao, X. D., Fritzsche, K., Leonhart, R., Schaefert, R., Sun, X. Y., & Larisch, A. (2015). Quality of doctor—patient relationship in patients with high somatic symptom severity in China. Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 23, 23-31.

Xu, T., Bao, Y., Liang, Y., & Mi, T. (2015). Patient perception and the barriers to practicing patient-centered communication: A survey and in-depth interview of Chinese patients and physicians. Patient Education and Counseling, 07.

Zhao, L., & Wang, J. (2013). Research on psychological factors which influence Doctor-Patient communications among outpatients. Journal of Medical Colleges of PLA, 28, 20-28.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/11077

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2019 Canadian Social Science

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Reminder

  • How to do online submission to another Journal?
  • If you have already registered in Journal A, then how can you submit another article to Journal B? It takes two steps to make it happen:

1. Register yourself in Journal B as an Author

  • Find the journal you want to submit to in CATEGORIES, click on “VIEW JOURNAL”, “Online Submissions”, “GO TO LOGIN” and “Edit My Profile”. Check “Author” on the “Edit Profile” page, then “Save”.

2. Submission

Online Submission: http://cscanada.org/index.php/css/submission/wizard

  • Go to “User Home”, and click on “Author” under the name of Journal B. You may start a New Submission by clicking on “CLICK HERE”.
  • We only use four mailboxes as follows to deal with issues about paper acceptance, payment and submission of electronic versions of our journals to databases: caooc@hotmail.com; office@cscanada.net; ccc@cscanada.net; ccc@cscanada.org

 Articles published in Canadian Social Science are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY).

 

Canadian Social Science Editorial Office

Address: 1020 Bouvier Street, Suite 400, Quebec City, Quebec, G2K 0K9, Canada.
Telephone: 1-514-558 6138 
Website: Http://www.cscanada.net; Http://www.cscanada.org 
E-mail:caooc@hotmail.com; office@cscanada.net

Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture