Patterns of Communication between Health Care Practitioners and Terminally-ill Patients in the Context of Thailand and Foreign Countries

Abstract

This study was a qualitative study that aimed to analyse and synthesise the patterns of speech acts in communication between health practitioners and terminally-ill patients who are confronting life-threatening terminal illnesses in Thailand and foreign countries. The researcher studied a data collection from international databases at Science Direct since 2007-2015 with the number of 10 documents in Thailand and 10 academic documents in foreign countries. A conceptual framework in this research was theory, human caring, and human hierarchy of needs. A qualitative study by content analysis of a group of utterances/statements was used in communicative interactions between health care practitioners and terminally-ill patients, specific in locutionary acts and illocutionary acts.  Data were analyzed using identified speech acts in five categories: notice group, suggestive group, showing feelings group, bonded group, and bulletin group. Data were analyzed by using percentage statistics and content analysis. The results showed that health practitioners in Thailand used verbal interpretations more directly than foreign health workers at 64.90%.  The final stage of patients in foreign countries used the verbal act to perform the most feelings at 60.01%. The notice groups and suggestive groups were similar in both Thailand and foreign countries. The least common speech act groups were bonded group and bulletin groups.