Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Dentist and patient;
Abstract
This ethnographic study sought to identify language functions present in the dentist-child patient relationship. Specifically, the study identified language functions in the dentist's talk and determined their possible role in comforting the patient. The dentists that participated in this study were from Cedar Falls, Waterloo, and Hudson, Iowa. Five dentists were randomly chosen using the Nth Skip Method. The study asked two primary research questions. The first question asked "Are dentists making use of communication skills t hat the dental literature describes as comforting?" The second question asked "What possible language functions are employed in the reduction of distress?" The regulatory, the instructive, and the phatic functions were expected in the interactions. The study attempted to answer these questions using audio taped recordings and field observations of dentist-child patient interactions. The dentists and their patients were tape recorded on three separate occasions. After the recordings were completed the dentists participated in follow-up interviews. The tape recordings were then transcribed . From the transcriptions, dentist talk was analyzed to identify the language functions as described by Del Hymes, M.A.K. Halliday, and other scholars. The frequency of each function was then calculated. The results show that the regulatory, the phatic, the instructive, the aesthetic and the heuristic functions were present in the interactions. Also present was talk that fit into more than one function category. The results also indicated that a division of the regulatory function was needed in order for the regulatory function to be comforting in any way. The subdivision was called the comforting regulatory function. All the other functions were determined to comfort in some way. Based on these results, conclusions were drawn regarding each function and the multiple function category. Additionally, implications for further researcher were discussed. Finally, recommendations to the dental community were made. The primary recommendation was that the dental community needed to make communication instruction a priority for the field. The results and the follow-up interviews indicated that both dental students and practicing dentists needed further communication instruction to better serve their patients.
Year of Submission
1990
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Department of Communication and Theatre Arts
First Advisor
Neil Phillips
Second Advisor
Bill Henderson
Third Advisor
Jon Hall
Date Original
1990
Object Description
1 PDF file (194 leaves)
Copyright
©1990 Glen William Jackson
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Jackson, Glen William, "The Language of Comfort: An Ethnographic Study of Language Functions in the Dentist-Patient Relationship" (1990). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 3036.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/3036
Comments
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