Light and shadows: Appreciative inquiry, communication ethics literacy, and the opioid epidemic

Abstract

This study explores the interrelationship between Cooperrider’s (Barrett & Cooperrider, 1990) appreciative inquiry (AI) and Arnett, Fritz, and Bell’s (2009) communication ethics literacy (CEL) through interviews with professionals struggling with a mid-Atlantic city’s opioid epidemic. Findings suggest that AI can pinpoint the “light” groups protect and promote, while CEL can clarify “shadows” hindering AI implementations and propose communicative practices to strengthen those goods.