Programme
1245: Lunch and networking
1330: Dr Eniola Boluwaduro: ‘You Must Adhere Strictly to the Time and Days of Intake’: Medical Advice and Negotiations of Medical Authority in Nigerian HIV Consultations
1415: Dr Andrew Papanikitas: Some brief reflections on epistemic and moral sources of medical authority inside and outside the medical consultation
1430: Discussion: medical authority, advice and adherence (we warmly invite colleagues to share ideas and discuss current work and relevant literature both in terms of topic and methodology)
1545: Close
Abstract for main paper by Dr Boluwaduro
‘You Must Adhere Strictly to the Time and Days of Intake’: Medical Advice and Negotiations of Medical Authority in Nigerian HIV Consultations
Using the methodology of conversation analysis, this paper examines one practice by which medical authority is negotiated in Nigerian HIV consultations. Analyses of ninety treatment recommendation sequences from seventy audio-recorded interactions between doctors and HIV-positive patients reveal that doctors issue instructions as a form of medical advice on patients’ adherence to medical recommendations. During the advisory interactions, patients are held responsible for maintaining medical wellness, although the doctors’ reasons for offering medical advice, and their turn design and sequential distribution indicate that advice serves to enact authoritative roles. The findings are a counter-balance to the position, in existing conversation analysis research, that patients’ actions palliate medical authority. The paper calls for a broader conceptualisation of ‘adherence’ and ‘medical authority’ within medical institutional settings.
Keywords: Medical authority, Advice-Giving, Instructions, Doctor-patient interactions, Turn designs, Treatment discussions, Doctoring style, Nigeria.
Lunch and refreshments will be available upon arrival
If you wish to participate in this symposium, please contact Dr Andrew Papanikitas (andrew.papanikitas@phc.ox.ac.uk) or Dr Lidia Zanetti Domingues (lidia.zanettidomingues@stx.ox.ac.uk) to reserve a place.
