Jones1997
| Jones1997 | |
|---|---|
| BibType | ARTICLE |
| Key | Jones1997 |
| Author(s) | Charlotte M. Jones |
| Title | 'That's a good sign': Encouraging Assessments as a Form of Social Support in Medically Related Encounters |
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| Tag(s) | EMCA, Medical, Good News, Assessments |
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| Year | 1997 |
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| Journal | Health Communication |
| Volume | 9 |
| Number | 2 |
| Pages | 119-153 |
| URL | |
| DOI | 10.1207/s15327027hc0902_2 |
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Abstract
Little research to date has examined how social support is accomplished in actual discourse. This study investigates and describes one type of verbal social support in medically related encounters: encouraging assessments. These positive or encouraging evaluative utterances (e.g., 'That's great") are offered by conversational participants upon hearing information that can be assessed as good news (e.g., cancerous tumors disappearing or decreasing in size). Two forms or turn shapes of encouraging assessments are delineated: free-standing and turn-initial. Recipients' responses are shown to be related to the particular turn shape of the encouraging assessment and constrained by their complimentary nature. Specifically, recipients of turn-initial encouraging assessments provide virtually no verbal response to the assessment, whereas recipients of free-standing encouraging assessments offer more pronounced responses (usually the offering of additional information). It is argued that recipients of free-standing encouraging assessments operate under a constraint system similar to those receiving compliments or praise. Applications for those involved in various types of medical encounters are discussed.
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