title: Communicative characteristics of interactions between surgeons and Chinese women with breast cancer in oncology consultation: a conversation analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  While previous studies have analysed features of interaction in cancer consultations using observational coding frames, relatively little attention is being given to how actual interactions are sequentially organized and achieved by participants in the course of talk-in-interaction. Research into the interactional practices in consultations, which involves Chinese patients, is largely absent.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To provide insight into the talk-in-interaction in surgical-oncology consultations in the context of a Chinese medical setting.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-one consultations involving 31 patients with breast cancer and eight surgeons were videotaped. The recordings were transcribed verbatim and analysed using conversation analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The manner in which surgeons delivered the diagnostic results was fairly similar across all the consultations. Most surgeons gave the diagnosis in a very straightforward and abrupt manner at the outset of the consultation with no mitigation. While patients in our study conformed to the traditional information giving and receiving roles, how information was presented by surgeons shaped the subsequent sequential organization of surgeon-patient interaction and turn-taking patterns. More importantly, there was a tendency by the surgeons to move from issues of psychosocial nature to clinical matters regardless of the topics taken up in the specific encounter.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrated the potential of conversation analysis as a context-sensitive method that enabled researchers to gain a more thorough understanding of dynamics of interaction in cancer consultations, thereby informing training interventions for surgeons. Our findings underscore the importance of discursive practices in shaping and encouraging (or discouraging) patient participation in oncology consultation.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Psycho-Oncology Research and Training, School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Sungwon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.affiliation: The Breast Centre, Department of Surgery, Kwong Wah Hospital, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Miranda
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.affiliation: The Breast Centre, Department of Surgery, Kwong Wah Hospital, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Wai Ka
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Hung
authors.affiliation: The Breast Centre, Department of Surgery, Kwong Wah Hospital, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Marcus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ying
authors.affiliation: The Breast Centre, Department of Surgery, Kwong Wah Hospital, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Or
authors.affiliation: Centre for Psycho-Oncology Research and Training, School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Wendy W T
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Lam
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery; D002681:China; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008495:Medical Oncology / Q000379:methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D014741:Video Recording
keywords: breast cancer; clinical communication; conversation analysis; oncology consultation