Journal article
Being Open without Talking about It: A Rhetorical/Normative Approach to Understanding Topic Avoidance in Families after a Lung Cancer Diagnosis
Communication monographs, Vol.78(4), pp.409-436
01/01/2011
DOI: 10.1080/03637751.2011.618141
Abstract
The present study uses a rhetorical/normative perspective to examine families' communication and coping in response to a parent's diagnosis of, and eventual death from, lung cancer. Through in-depth, semistructured interviews with 35 adult children, we identified two broad areas of communicative avoidance (avoiding information and avoiding emotion) and three general ways of managing avoidance and openness (denial, segmentation, and being open while avoiding). The interviews suggested that denial was a particularly dissatisfying means of managing competing goals, whereas being open while avoiding appeared to be functional for family members. The discussion focuses on our understanding of reasons why people avoid in this context, implications for rhetorical/normative approaches and theories of information management, and practical implications of the current findings.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Being Open without Talking about It: A Rhetorical/Normative Approach to Understanding Topic Avoidance in Families after a Lung Cancer Diagnosis
- Creators
- John P. Caughlin - CommunicationSylvia L. Mikucki-Enyart - University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignAshley V. Middleton - University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignAnne M. Stone - Portland State UniversityLaura E. Brown - The University of Texas at Austin
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Communication monographs, Vol.78(4), pp.409-436
- Publisher
- Taylor & Francis
- DOI
- 10.1080/03637751.2011.618141
- ISSN
- 0363-7751
- eISSN
- 1479-5787
- Number of pages
- 28
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 01/01/2011
- Academic Unit
- Communication Studies; Public Policy Center (Archive); Center for Social Science Innovation
- Record Identifier
- 9984283727202771
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