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Article published In: Pragmatics and Society
Vol. 15:4 (2024) ► pp.632–654

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Patients resist, doctors manage

The management of patient resistance by doctors in Chinese Online Medical Consultation

 | Harbin Engineering University
ORCiD logo with link | Central University of Finance and Economics
 | Nanjing University
Published online: 7 August 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.22042.mao
Abstract
Although there are abundant studies on the management of patient resistance in traditional face-to-face clinical settings, scant attention has been paid to that in the online context. This study thus delves into the types of patient resistance and the strategies Chinese doctors employ to manage such resistance in Online Medical Consultation (OMC). A dataset of 148 online doctor-patient conversations was collected from Chunyu Doctor. Three types of patient resistance – expertise-oriented, experience-oriented, and emotion-oriented – are identified and analyzed in Chinese OMC. Accordingly, Chinese doctors generally adopt linguistic strategies such as interpretives to justify decisions, supportives to facilitate relational work, and imperatives in the event of persistent resistance. Furthermore, the management of patient resistance is discussed as a joint goal-centered activity in Chinese OMC, aiming to contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the shared decision-making process in Chinese health communication.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Patient resistance in asymmetrical doctor-patient communication
    • 2.2Doctors’ discursive strategies in OMC
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Research questions
    • 3.2Data collection
    • 3.3Data analysis
  • 4.Research findings
    • 4.1Types of patient resistance in Chinese OMC: Types and cases
    • 4.2Strategies employed by doctors to manage patient resistance in OMC
      • 4.2.1Interpretives
      • 4.2.2Supportives
      • 4.2.3Imperatives
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • References
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