In:Identity Struggles: Evidence from workplaces around the world
Edited by Dorien Van De Mieroop and Stephanie Schnurr
[Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture 69] 2017
► pp. 79–94
Chapter 5Epistemic “Struggles”
When nurses’ expert identity is challenged by “knowledgeable” clients
Published online: 26 April 2017
https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.69.05zay
https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.69.05zay
Abstract
This chapter examines telephone consultations between genetic nurses and new mothers whose infants have been diagnosed with the hereditary condition G6PD deficiency. These consultations aim at informing the mothers about the condition and its management. We focus on interactions with so-called “knowledgeable mothers”, in which participants’ epistemic statuses (knowledgeable nurses vs. less knowledgeable mothers) and their related identities (e.g. expert – lay person) are challenged. We examine how the participants discursively negotiate each other’s epistemic authority, while simultaneously constructing specific identities for themselves and others. We show that epistemic “struggles” become an integral part of achieving the aim of these consultations, namely that the mothers are able to manage the condition of their infants.
Article outline
- Introduction
- The roles and identities of nurses
- Data
- Establishing and orienting to participants’ epistemic statuses in the process of negotiating each other’s identities
- Discussion and conclusion
Note References
References (10)
Candlin, Sally. 2011. “Changes in Professional Identities: Nursing Roles and Practices.” In Handbook of Communication in Organizations and Professions, ed. by Christopher N. Candlin, and Srikant Sarangi, 551–570. Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter Mouton.
Candlin, Christopher N., and Sally Candlin. 2007. “Nursing through Time and Space: Some Challenges to the Construct of the Community of Practice.” In The Discourse of Hospital Communication: Tracing Complexities in Contemporary Health Care Organizations, ed. by Rick Iedema, 244–267. Basingstoke, U.K.: Palgrave-Macmillan.
Charles, Cathy, Amiram Gafni, and Tim Whelan. 1997. “Shared Decision-making in the Medical Encounter: What Does It Mean (Or It Takes At Least Two to Tango).” Social Science and Medicine, 44 (5): 681–692.
Farhud, Dariush D., and Leila Yazdanpanah. 2008. “Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency”. Iranian journal of public health, 37 (4): 1–18.
Heritage, John. 2012. “Epistemics in Action: Action Formation and Territories of Knowledge.” Research on Language and Social Interaction, 45 (1): 1–29.
Heritage, John, and Geoffrey Raymond. 2005. “The Terms of Agreement: Indexing Epistemic Authority and Subordination in Assessment Sequences.” Social Psychology Quarterly, 68 (1): 15–38.
Ochs, Elinor. 1992. “Indexing Gender.” In Rethinking Context: Language as an Interactive Phenomenon, ed. by Alessandro Duranti, and Charles Goodwin, 335–358. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cited by (1)
Cited by one other publication
Van De Mieroop, Dorien, Melisa Stevanovic, Minna Leinonen & Henri Nevalainen
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 8 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.