Linguistic markers of person-centredness: a survey of social actor representations and questions in current and future healthcare professionals’ interactions with patients

This study offers a sociolinguistically oriented discursive outlook on the dichotomy between person-centred and biomedical model of communication of patients and healthcare professionals, focussing on nurses, midwives and physiotherapists. The study explores two potential linguistic markers of person-centredness, aimed at putting the patient in a discursively active position. The study analyses nomination strategies (how patients refer to healthcare professionals and vice versa) and questioning strategies (how certain questions exert pressure on the patient). The study conceptualizes the use of proper names (and, to a certain degree, polite/professional titles) as person-centred in contrast to impersonal forms of address. For different question types and their pragmatic effects in professional communication, the study transfers a solid analytical framework from legal discourse, problematizing the use of biomedically-oriented leading questions as opposed to open person-centred questions. The data are collected using a bilingual (English and Italian) ad hoc questionnaire / hypothetical scenario study distributed among acting and future international professionals in midwifery, physiotherapy and nursing. The analysis covers two levels: career-stage (acting professionals vs. trainees) and interprofessional (nurses vs. midwives vs. physiotherapists). The results indicate that while all acting professionals are fully aware of the theoretical importance of person-centred communication, in practice it frequently remains an abstract ideal. A significant career-stage difference is traced in terms of concept awareness and the self-perceived status.