Conversational pursuit of medication compliance in a Therapeutic Community for persons diagnosed with mental disorders

Purpose: In this article, we contribute to the debate on medication compliance by exploring the conversational "technologies" entailed in the process of promoting clients’ adherence to psychopharmacological prescriptions. Using a case study approach, we explore how medication-related probl...

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Main Authors: Mortari, Luigina, Pino, Marco
Format: Article
Published: Informa Healthcare 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/27604/
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author Mortari, Luigina
Pino, Marco
author_facet Mortari, Luigina
Pino, Marco
author_sort Mortari, Luigina
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Purpose: In this article, we contribute to the debate on medication compliance by exploring the conversational "technologies" entailed in the process of promoting clients’ adherence to psychopharmacological prescriptions. Using a case study approach, we explore how medication-related problems are dealt with in conversational interaction between the staff members and the clients of a mental health Therapeutic Community (TC) in Italy. Method: Four meetings between two staff members (Barbara and Massimo) and the clients of the TC were audiorecorded. The data were transcribed and analyzed using the method of Conversation Analysis. Results: Barbara and Massimo recur to practices of topic articulation to promote talk that references the clients’ failure to take the medications. Through these practices they deal with the practical problem of mobilizing the clients’ cooperation in courses of action that fit into the institutional agenda of fostering medication adherence. Conclusions: Barbara and Massimo’s conversational practices appear to reflect the assumption that medication-related problems can be reduced to compliance problems. This assumption works to make the clients accountable for their failure to take the medications while shaping a conversational environment that is unreceptive to their complaints about side effects. Implications for the understanding of mental health rehabilitation practice in TCs are discussed.
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spelling nottingham-276042020-05-04T20:17:19Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/27604/ Conversational pursuit of medication compliance in a Therapeutic Community for persons diagnosed with mental disorders Mortari, Luigina Pino, Marco Purpose: In this article, we contribute to the debate on medication compliance by exploring the conversational "technologies" entailed in the process of promoting clients’ adherence to psychopharmacological prescriptions. Using a case study approach, we explore how medication-related problems are dealt with in conversational interaction between the staff members and the clients of a mental health Therapeutic Community (TC) in Italy. Method: Four meetings between two staff members (Barbara and Massimo) and the clients of the TC were audiorecorded. The data were transcribed and analyzed using the method of Conversation Analysis. Results: Barbara and Massimo recur to practices of topic articulation to promote talk that references the clients’ failure to take the medications. Through these practices they deal with the practical problem of mobilizing the clients’ cooperation in courses of action that fit into the institutional agenda of fostering medication adherence. Conclusions: Barbara and Massimo’s conversational practices appear to reflect the assumption that medication-related problems can be reduced to compliance problems. This assumption works to make the clients accountable for their failure to take the medications while shaping a conversational environment that is unreceptive to their complaints about side effects. Implications for the understanding of mental health rehabilitation practice in TCs are discussed. Informa Healthcare 2014 Article NonPeerReviewed Mortari, Luigina and Pino, Marco (2014) Conversational pursuit of medication compliance in a Therapeutic Community for persons diagnosed with mental disorders. Disability & Rehabilitation, 36 (17). pp. 1419-1438. ISSN 0963-8288 Communication compliance medication mental health and illness Therapeutic Community Conversation Analysis http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/09638288.2013.834987 doi:10.3109/09638288.2013.834987 doi:10.3109/09638288.2013.834987
spellingShingle Communication
compliance
medication
mental health and illness
Therapeutic Community
Conversation Analysis
Mortari, Luigina
Pino, Marco
Conversational pursuit of medication compliance in a Therapeutic Community for persons diagnosed with mental disorders
title Conversational pursuit of medication compliance in a Therapeutic Community for persons diagnosed with mental disorders
title_full Conversational pursuit of medication compliance in a Therapeutic Community for persons diagnosed with mental disorders
title_fullStr Conversational pursuit of medication compliance in a Therapeutic Community for persons diagnosed with mental disorders
title_full_unstemmed Conversational pursuit of medication compliance in a Therapeutic Community for persons diagnosed with mental disorders
title_short Conversational pursuit of medication compliance in a Therapeutic Community for persons diagnosed with mental disorders
title_sort conversational pursuit of medication compliance in a therapeutic community for persons diagnosed with mental disorders
topic Communication
compliance
medication
mental health and illness
Therapeutic Community
Conversation Analysis
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/27604/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/27604/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/27604/