Engaging death: Narrative and constructed dialogue in Advance Care Planning discussions

Authors

  • Gabriella Modan The Ohio State University
  • Seuli Bose Brill The Ohio State University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/cam.v11i2.18616

Keywords:

advance care planning, constructed dialogue, end-of-life, hypothetical narrative, narrative, reported speech, quotatives

Abstract

Advance Care Planning (ACP) remains extremely low in the US, due to numerous institutional and cultural barriers and discomfort in discussing death. There is a need for guidance about how patient and healthcare providers can effectively engage in ACP discussion. Here we analyze the linguistic strategies that focus-group participants use when discussing ACP in detailed ways. Prevalent linguistic structures in effective ACP discussions were loved ones’ end-of-life narratives, hypothetical narratives, and constructed dialogue. In elucidating spontaneous, unprompted approaches to effective discussion of end-of-life issues, such research can help to dislodge communicative barriers to ACP so that more people are prepared to engage the process.

Author Biographies

  • Gabriella Modan, The Ohio State University
    Gabriella Modan is an Associate Professor of Sociolinguistics in the Department of English at the Ohio State University. Her research interests include narrative devices such as orientation and constructed dialogue, and, more broadly, applied sociolinguistics and language, space, and social identity.
  • Seuli Bose Brill, The Ohio State University
    Seuli Bose Brill is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Her research focuses on developing novel techniques to increase the frequency and documentation of Advance Care Planning (ACP) discussions in the primary care setting, and evaluating patient and provider impressions to ACP techniques in order to provide more personalized ACP to subsets of the clinic population.

Published

2015-08-17

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Modan, G., & Bose Brill, S. (2015). Engaging death: Narrative and constructed dialogue in Advance Care Planning discussions. Communication and Medicine, 11(2), 153-165. https://doi.org/10.1558/cam.v11i2.18616

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