Treball de fi de màster en Lingüística Teòrica i Aplicada

This study examines communication by healthcare professionals (HCPs) with experience in palliative care (n= 24) and health sciences students (n=31) when raising difficult issues in patient-HCP encounters. Data was collected using a questionnaire, designed in collaboration with a palliative care nurse. Said data included demographic information, frequency of general communicative acts and the use of 8 politeness strategies when raising 7 difficult topics with patients. The findings were that HCPs use a greater number of positive politeness strategies and are also more likely to avoid performing the face threatening act entirely, that is, they were more cautious during/npatient encounters. This leads us to believe that through experience, the HCPs have learnt to be more cautious in patient interactions than their natural instinct, here represented by unexperienced students, would suggest. This is most likely due to the repercussions that a breakdown in communication could have on the patient’s health outcomes.