Lindstrom2009b

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Lindstrom2009b
BibType ARTICLE
Key Lindstrom2009a
Author(s) Anna Lindström, Trine Heinemann
Title Good enough: low-grade assessments in caregiving situations
Editor(s)
Tag(s) EMCA, Conversation Analysis, Assessments, Home Care, Geriatrics
Publisher
Year 2009
Language
City
Month
Journal Research on Language and Social Interaction
Volume 42
Number 4
Pages 309–328
URL Link
DOI 10.1080/08351810903296465
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

rawing on prior research on how the sequential negotiation of upgrades and downgrades in the intensity of assessment terms are used to display agreement, make epistemic claims, or segment courses of action, this study explores low- and high-grade assessments in domiciliary elderly care in Denmark and Sweden. The data consist of video recordings of home visits where home help providers assist senior citizens with personal hygiene and domestic tasks. Low- and high-grade assessments are differentially distributed in this data. Low-grade assessments are routinely used to achieve closure of a practical task performed by the home helper on behalf of the senior citizen. High-grade assessments are rare, and they are specifically not used in sequences that target the services rendered by the home helper. Our analysis of assessments in sequences that achieve task closure reveals an interactional metric where “good enough” rather than excellent (or awful) is oriented to as the benchmark for evaluation of task outcome. This finding contrasts with prior research on ordinary conversation, which has shown that assessments tend to be upgraded in intensity over the course of the sequence.

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