NURTURING COMMUNICATION BY HEALTH-PROFESSIONALS TOWARD PATIENTS - A COMMUNICATION ACCOMMODATION THEORY APPROACH

This study explores the role of nurturing communication in distinguish ing interpersonal and intergroup interactions between health professio nals and patients, from the perspective of communication accommodation theory (CAT). Participants (47 men and 87 women) rated videotapes of actual hospital consultations on 12 goal and 16 strategy items derived from CAT. Health professionals in interpersonal interactions were per ceived to pay more attention to relationship and emotional needs and t o use more nurturant discourse management and emotional expression. Th ese results point the way toward elucidating the perceived optimal bal ance in accommodative behavior, both group based and interpersonal, in these contexts, and they highlight the importance of nurturant commun ication to this process.