Applying Linguistics in Illness and Healthcare Contexts: Contemporary Studies in Linguistics

Description

All aspects of illness and healthcare are mediated by language: experiences of illness, death and healthcare provision are talked and written about (face-to-face or online), while medical consultations, research interviews, public health communications and even some diagnostic instruments are all inherently linguistic in nature. How we talk to, about and for each other in such a sensitive context has consequences for our relationships, our sense of self, how we understand and reason about our health, as well as for the quality care we receive. Yet, linguistic analysis has been conspicuously absent from the mainstream of medical education, health communication training and even the medical or health humanities. The chapters in this volume bring together applied linguistic work using discourse analysis, corpus methods, conversation analysis, metaphor analysis, cognitive linguistics, multiculturalism research, interactional sociolinguistics, narrative analysis, and (im)politeness to make sense of a variety of international healthcare contexts and situations. These include: -clinician-patient interactions -receptionist-patient interactions -online support forums -online counselling -public health communication -media representations -medical accounts -diagnostic tools and definitions -research interviews with doctors and patients The volume demonstrates how linguistic analysis can not only improve understandings of the lived-experience of different illnesses, but also has implications for communications training, disease prevention, treatment and self-management, the effectiveness of public health messaging, access to appropriate care, professional mobility and professional terminology, among others.. Cover Half title Series Title Copyright Contents List of Illustrations List of Contributors Acknowledgements Introduction Part I The experience of illness 1 ‘One gives bad compliments about me, and the other one is telling me to do things’ – (Im)politeness and power in reported interactions between voice-hearers and their voices 2 Corpus linguistics in illness and healthcare contexts: A case study of diabulimia support groups 3 Using a comparative corpus-assisted approach to study health and illness discourses across domains: The case of postnatal depression (PND) in lay, medical and media texts 4 Applying corpus linguistics to a diagnostic tool for pain Part II Relating to each other 5 Improving HIV/AIDS consultations in Malawi: How interactional sociolinguistics can contribute 6 Empathy displays in Dutch chat counselling: Showcasing a microanalysis of online data 7 The functions of narrative passages in three written online health contexts Part III Illness in the mass media 8 Fighting obesity, sustaining stigma: How can critical metaphor analysis help uncover subtle stigma in media discourse on obesity 9 A media brew of implied, hidden and unknown risk claims: Cognitive discourse analysis of public health communication Part IV Professional practices and concerns 10 Effective triaging in general practice receptions: A conversation analytic study 11 A sociolinguistic investigation of professional mobility and multicultural healthcare communication 12 Applying corpus-based discourse analysis to enhance understanding of barriers to palliative and end of life care provision in general practice 13 A moment outside time: A critical discourse analytic perspective on dominant constructions of suicide Epilogue Index