Getting down to business - Talk, gaze, and body orientation during openings of doctor-patient consultations

Journal/Book: Hum Commun Res. 1998; 25: 2455 Teller Rd, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Sage Publications Inc. 97-123.

Abstract: This study examines the openings of British general-practice medical consultations. The authors use conversation analysis to analyze how doctors' and patients' practices of gaze and body orientation organize interaction such that doctors routinely initiate the sequence wherein patients disclose their chief complaint. Gaze and body orientation communicate levels of engagement with and disengagement from courses of action. As doctors and patients accomplish regular tasks preparatory to dealing with patients' chief complaints, doctors use gaze and body orientation to communicate that they are preparing but are not yet ready to deal with those complaints. In response, patients wait for their doctors to solicit their chief complaint. These findings have implications for research on nonverbal communication, interactional asymmetry, and power.

Note: Article Robinson JD, Univ Calif Los Angeles, Dept Sociol, Los Angeles,CA 90024 USA

Keyword(s): TURN-TAKING; COMMUNICATION; DISCOURSE

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