Beyond neutrality: professionals’ responses to clients’ indirect complaints in a Therapeutic Community for people with a diagnosis of mental illness
Previous research has evidenced that in different institutional settings professionals are cautious when responding to clients’ indirect complaints and tend to avoid siding either with the clients/ complainants or the complained-of absent parties. In this article we use the method of Conversati...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
Equinox Publishing
2013
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/3608/ |
| _version_ | 1848791031436279808 |
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| author | Pino, Marco Mortari, Luigina |
| author_facet | Pino, Marco Mortari, Luigina |
| author_sort | Pino, Marco |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Previous research has evidenced that in different
institutional settings professionals are cautious
when responding to clients’ indirect complaints
and tend to avoid siding either with the clients/
complainants or the complained-of absent parties.
In this article we use the method of Conversation
Analysis to explore professional responses
to clients’ indirect complaints in the context of a
Therapeutic Community (TC) for people with diagnoses
of mental illness in Italy. Although the TC
staff members sometimes display a neutral orientation
toward the clients’ complaints, as is the case in
other institutional settings, in some instances they
take a stance toward the clients’ complaints, either
by distancing themselves or by overtly disaffiliating
from them. We argue that these practices reflect the
particular challenges of an institutional setting in
which professionals engage with clients on a daily
basis, have an institutional mandate of watching
over them and are responsible for their safety. According
to this interpretation, staff members’ non-neutrality
toward clients’ complaints can be seen as
a way of defending against the possibility, raised by
the clients’ reports, that the staff members might be
involved, albeit indirectly, in courses of action that
have harmed or might harm the clients. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T18:22:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-3608 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T18:22:03Z |
| publishDate | 2013 |
| publisher | Equinox Publishing |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-36082020-05-04T20:20:48Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/3608/ Beyond neutrality: professionals’ responses to clients’ indirect complaints in a Therapeutic Community for people with a diagnosis of mental illness Pino, Marco Mortari, Luigina Previous research has evidenced that in different institutional settings professionals are cautious when responding to clients’ indirect complaints and tend to avoid siding either with the clients/ complainants or the complained-of absent parties. In this article we use the method of Conversation Analysis to explore professional responses to clients’ indirect complaints in the context of a Therapeutic Community (TC) for people with diagnoses of mental illness in Italy. Although the TC staff members sometimes display a neutral orientation toward the clients’ complaints, as is the case in other institutional settings, in some instances they take a stance toward the clients’ complaints, either by distancing themselves or by overtly disaffiliating from them. We argue that these practices reflect the particular challenges of an institutional setting in which professionals engage with clients on a daily basis, have an institutional mandate of watching over them and are responsible for their safety. According to this interpretation, staff members’ non-neutrality toward clients’ complaints can be seen as a way of defending against the possibility, raised by the clients’ reports, that the staff members might be involved, albeit indirectly, in courses of action that have harmed or might harm the clients. Equinox Publishing 2013 Article PeerReviewed Pino, Marco and Mortari, Luigina (2013) Beyond neutrality: professionals’ responses to clients’ indirect complaints in a Therapeutic Community for people with a diagnosis of mental illness. Communication & Medicine, 10 (3). pp. 213-224. ISSN 1612-1783 Conversation Analysis; indirect complaints; mental health; neutrality; rehabilitation; Therapeutic Community http://www.equinoxpub.com/journals/index.php/CAM/article/view/14209 doi:10.1558/cam.v10i3.213 doi:10.1558/cam.v10i3.213 |
| spellingShingle | Conversation Analysis; indirect complaints; mental health; neutrality; rehabilitation; Therapeutic Community Pino, Marco Mortari, Luigina Beyond neutrality: professionals’ responses to clients’ indirect complaints in a Therapeutic Community for people with a diagnosis of mental illness |
| title | Beyond neutrality: professionals’ responses to clients’ indirect complaints in a Therapeutic Community for people with a diagnosis of mental illness |
| title_full | Beyond neutrality: professionals’ responses to clients’ indirect complaints in a Therapeutic Community for people with a diagnosis of mental illness |
| title_fullStr | Beyond neutrality: professionals’ responses to clients’ indirect complaints in a Therapeutic Community for people with a diagnosis of mental illness |
| title_full_unstemmed | Beyond neutrality: professionals’ responses to clients’ indirect complaints in a Therapeutic Community for people with a diagnosis of mental illness |
| title_short | Beyond neutrality: professionals’ responses to clients’ indirect complaints in a Therapeutic Community for people with a diagnosis of mental illness |
| title_sort | beyond neutrality: professionals’ responses to clients’ indirect complaints in a therapeutic community for people with a diagnosis of mental illness |
| topic | Conversation Analysis; indirect complaints; mental health; neutrality; rehabilitation; Therapeutic Community |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/3608/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/3608/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/3608/ |