Impoliteness Strategies in Nurse-Patient Interactions in Two Public State-Owned Hospitals in Delta State: A Focus on Pre and Post Doctors’ Consultation Encounters

Abstract

Impoliteness is a negative language behaviour which causes dissatisfaction in communication. The patients who are the judge as to whether hospital communication is dissatisfactory or not, usually feel threatened by nurses’ impoliteness. Therefore, this study examined impoliteness in nurse-patient interaction in Asaba Specialist hospital and General hospital, Okwe. The aim is to identify and discuss the impoliteness strategies and their frequency of occurrence as used by nurses and patients in pre and post doctors’ encounters. The theoretical underpinning for the study is Jonathan Culpeper’s (1996) theory of impoliteness.  By a direct observation, the study recorded the natural occurring conversations of nurses and patients in both hospitals. Through a purposive sampling method, interactions with elements of impoliteness were identified and isolated for further examination. The isolated data was further triangulated through a qualitative descriptive method of analysis. The findings showed that the patients and nurses examined use positive impoliteness strategy, negative impoliteness strategy, sarcasm and withhold politeness strategy with bald on record as the most frequently used. The study recommended that nurses should minimise the use of obvert impoliteness in patients’ health care interaction and embrace strategies that minimises face attack.