Introduction: Interventions in Health Care Interaction

As this book is intended for an audience of researchers as well as professionals in health care, we will first describe the main features of the perspectives of Conversation Analysis (CA), Discursive Psychology (DP) and how they are related. This is followed by a discussion of the meaning and merits of interventionist applied Conversation Analysis and Discursive Psychology, illustrated by methods such as the conversation analytic role-play method (CARM) developed by Stokoe (The conversation analytic role-play method (CARM): A method for training communication skills as an alternative to simulated role-play. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 47 (3), 255–265. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351813.2014.925663 , 2014) as a leading example. Then we will discuss the value of applied CA and DP for improving health interaction in institutional settings in particular. In the last section of this chapter, we outline the structure of the book and describe the rest of the chapters.