Movie dialogues as discourse data in the study of forecasting mechanisms in the delivery of medical bad news

Abstract

Understanding the communication skills for delivering bad news, an important daily task for medical professionals, presents a challenge for most researchers due to methodological and ethical dilemmas. Movie dialogues, in which difficult communication of life-and-death issues are fundamental ingredients in creating dramatic effects, are often adopted in medical education and are thus potential data for study. By applying the concept of forecasting mechanism' in bad news delivery (Schegloff 1988; Maynard 2003), this study examines bad news delivery events depicted in three movie clips. My analysis demonstrates that (1) forecasting, as a 'macro conversation mechanism', is observed in both natural and artificial discourses; (2) two subtypes of forecasting are identifiable in movie dialogues:forecasting that directs the interaction to a 'recipient-leading-the-telling' pattern, and forecasting that constructs the delivery event as one with shared agency; and (3) the two subtypes may facilitate the deliverer's task by minimizing conflicting perspectives with the recipient, ensuring the recipient's orientation to the bad news, and freeing the deliverer from the pressure of being blamed. These findings indicate the possibility of applying movie clips in discourse research and medical education in regard to conversational strategies for difficult communication.