Problem formulation in mental health residential treatment. A single case analysis.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1970-2221/2591Keywords:
Problem formulation, mental health, residential treatment, educator, conversation analysis, single case analysisAbstract
This paper investigates an episode of interaction in a mental health residential centre in Italy, where a resident and a staff member manage a relational problem. The episode leads to an apparently paradoxical outcome: in spite of the fact that the resident has sought the staff members’ cooperation to make sense of the relational problem, she ends up being blamed for that problem. Adopting the approach of conversation analysis, the paper shows that this outcome is the result of the transition from a relational view, to a one-sided view of the problem. The practices employed to accomplish this transition reflect a set of contrasting concerns and goals, which the participants bring to bear on the interaction. Reflection about these aspects can sensitize the public to some of the intricacies and challenges entailed in the delivery of mental health residential treatment.
References
Antaki, C., Barnes, R., & Leudar, I. (2004). Trouble in agreeing on a client's problem in a cognitive-behavioural therapy session. Rivista di Psicolinguistica Applicata, 4, 127-138.
Beach, W. A. & Metzger, T. R. (1997). Claiming insufficient knowledge. Human Communication Research, 23, 562-588.
Crescentini, A., De Felice, F., & Tonzar, C. (2004). L'educatore e la riabilitazione psichiatrica [The educator and the psychiatric rehabilitation]. Roma: Carocci.
Dersley, I. & Wootton, A. (2000). Complaint Sequences Within Antagonistic Argument. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 33, 375-406.
Drew, P. (1991). Asymmetries of knowledge in conversational interactions. In I. Marková & K. Foppa (Eds.), Asymmetries in dialogue (pp. 21-48). Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
Drew, P. (1998). Complaints about transgressions and misconduct. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 31, 295-325.
Edwards, D. (2005). Moaning, whinging and laughing: the subjective side of complaints. Discourse Studies, 7, 5-29.
Egbert, M. & Vöge, M. (2008). Wh-interrogative formats used for questioning and beyond: German warum (why) and wieso (why) and English why. Discourse Studies, 10, 17-36.
Emerson, R. M. & Messinger, S. L. (1977). The micro-politics of trouble. Social Problems, 25, 121-134.
Fele, G. (2007). L'analisi della conversazione [Conversation analysis]. Bologna: Il Mulino.
Heinemann, T. (2009). Participation and exclusion in third party complaints. Journal of Pragmatics, 41, 2435-2451.
Hutchby, I. (1996). Confrontation talk: Arguments, asymmetries and power on talk radio. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Jefferson, G. & Lee, J. R. E. (1981/1992). The Rejection of Advice: Managing the Problematic Convergence of a 'Troubles-Telling' and a 'Service Encounter'. In P. Drew & J. Heritage (Eds.), Talk at work (pp. 521-548). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Koshik, I. (2003). Wh-questions used as challenges. Discourse Studies, 5, 51-77.
Mandelbaum, J. (1991/1992). Conversational Non Cooperation: An Exploration of Disattended Complaints. Research on Language & Social Interaction, 25, 97-138.
Monzoni, C. M. (2008). Introducing direct complaints through questions: the interactional achievement of 'pre-sequences'? Discourse Studies, 10, 73-87.
Mortari, L. (2009). Ricercare e riflettere [Researching and reflecting]. Roma: Carocci.
Pomerantz, A. & Mandelbaum, J. (2005). Conversation Analytic Approaches to the Relevance and Uses of Relationship Categories in Interaction. In K. L. Fitch & R. E. Sanders (Eds.), Handbook of language and social interaction (pp. 149-171). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Pomerantz, A. (1986). Extreme Case Formulations: A Way of Legitimizing Claims. Human Studies, 9, 219-229.
Potter, J. (1996). Representing Reality. London: Sage.
Robinson, J. D. & Heritage, J. (2005). The structure of patients' presenting concerns: the completion relevance of current symptoms. Social Science & Medicine, 61, 481-493.
Sacks, H. (1974). An analysis of the course of a joke's telling in conversation. In R. Bauman & J. Sherzer (Eds.), Explorations in the ethnography of speaking (pp. 337-353). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Schegloff, E. A. (1987). Analyzing Single Episodes of Interaction: An Exercise in Conversation Analysis. Social Psychology Quarterly, 2, 101-114.
Schegloff, E. A. (2005). On Complainability. Social Problems, 4, 449-476.
Schegloff, E. A. (2007). Sequence organization in interaction: a primer in conversation analysis I. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Stivers, T. (2008). Stance, Alignment, and Affiliation During Storytelling: When Nodding Is a Token of Affiliation. Research on Language & Social Interaction, 41, 31-57.
Stokoe, E. & Hepburn, A. (2005). 'You can hear a lot through the walls': Noise formulations in neighbour complaints. Discourse & Society, 16, 647-673.
Ten Have, P. (2007). Doing Conversation Analysis (2nd ed.). London: Sage.
Waring, H. Z. (2009). Moving out of IRF (Initiation-Response-Feedback): A Single Case Analysis. Language Learning, 59, 796-824.
Whalen, J. & Zimmerman, D. H. (1988). When Words Fail: A Single Case Analysis. Social Problems, 35, 335-362.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2012 Marco Pino, Luigina Mortari
Copyrights and publishing rights of all the texts on this journal belong to the respective authors without restrictions.
This journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (full legal code).
See also our Open Access Policy.
