Japanese Association of Healthcare Communication
Vol. 1, No.1 2023 (The First Number)

Special Issue:Introduction of Special Issue: Interpersonal Communication Research in Health Care: Current Status and Issue

Kazuhiko Fujisaki1), Miho Iwakuma2)

1)Medical Education Development Center, Gifu University 2) Kyoto University School of Public Health, Department of Medical Communication

Emotions and Communication:Exploring qualitative research through autoethnography

NADAMITSU, Yoko

College of Intercultural Communication, Rikkyo University

The objective of this article is to explore the possibilities of qualitative research through inquiring into autoethnography (AE), which has recently been practiced in Japan. After briefly explaining the concept “empathy,” which AE values highly as a way to reach out to their readers, core ideas of AE research are discussed. Autoethnographers recognize the limits of conventional positivist assumptions about the nature of social reality and the production of knowledge. Being members of a particular cultural group, they use their own personal experience evoked by their feelings and emotions in research and writing. Their priority is to analyze and write reflexively to connect their experience and insights as insiders to larger cultural phenomena. The risks and concerns associated with balancing between personal, emotional and analytical views, including the issue of being self-indulgent, and the danger of revealing their own flaws, are also discussed.

Introduction to Medical Communication Research in Dental Education～Considering Communication with Patients, Peers, and Other Professionals～

Chie Onizuka

Kyushu Dental University Department of Oral Functions Division for Comprehensive Dentistry

In the past, dental treatment in Japan was "treatment-centered" with the goal of restoring dental morphology. However, changes in the demographic composition, such as the increase in the elderly population, and changes in the incidence of dental disease have led to a paradigm shift toward "treatment, management, and collaboration," including the maintenance and restoration of oral function. Therefore, it is now recognized that not only "treatment" in the acute phase but also "management" in the chronic phase is important. To achieve this, it is necessary for dental professionals to gain the trust of patients through medical interviews and other forms of communication to gain a deeper understanding of the patient's background. In addition, in order for patients to be able to continue to live their own lives in their familiar communities until the end of their lives, the construction of a "community-based comprehensive care system," is being promoted, and collaboration among various professions is the key to achieving this. I introduce some of the quantitative studies we have conducted on dental education research on the subject of communication in the medical field, such as "between dentists and patients," "between dentists," and "between dentists and workers in other professions”.

Discourse analysis as a potential methodological approach ? Considering trends in health professions education research

Imafuku, Rintaro

Medical Education Development Center, Gifu University

Viewed broadly, discourse analysis is the study of ways in which naturally occurring language is used between people, both in written and spoken contexts. Examining how meaning is negotiated and constructed through learning interactions is a field of enquiry with a long history in the humanities and social sciences. Discourse analysis attempts to make visible the interactional patterns which characterize discursive practice, including written and spoken texts made in problem-based learning, health communication education, interprofessional education, and simulation-based education. However, although the importance of discourse analysis approaches as analytical framework has been gradually recognized, there are still limited number of discourse-based studies in health professions education. Therefore, with a focus on research into learning interactions, this article aims to revisit the relevance of discourse analysis in medical education research and to discuss how its findings can inform medical education. Particularly, key methodological approaches to discourse analysis are outlined, including 1) Critical Discourse Analysis that focuses on the relationship between languages and social, power and ideology; 2) Ethnography of Communication and Interactional Sociolinguistics that focus on contexts and language in use; and 3) Systemic Functional Linguistics and Classroom Discourse Analysis that focus on discourse structure and function.