Patients resist, doctors manage

Abstract

Although there are abundant studies on the management of patient resistance in traditional face-to-face clinical settings, scant attention has been paid to that in the online context. This study thus delves into the types of patient resistance and the strategies Chinese doctors employ to manage such resistance in Online Medical Consultation (OMC). A dataset of 148 online doctor-patient conversations was collected from Chunyu Doctor. Three types of patient resistance – expertise-oriented, experience-oriented, and emotion-oriented – are identified and analyzed in Chinese OMC. Accordingly, Chinese doctors generally adopt linguistic strategies such as interpretives to justify decisions, supportives to facilitate relational work, and imperatives in the event of persistent resistance. Furthermore, the management of patient resistance is discussed as a joint goal-centered activity in Chinese OMC, aiming to contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the shared decision-making process in Chinese health communication.