Dietary advice in chronic care: Comparing traditional Chinese and western medicine practiced in mainland China

Abstract

The study examines dietary advice-giving in regular consultations for patients with chronic conditions in two types of clinical practices: Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine practiced in mainland China. Dietary habits are unanimously considered relevant to the patient's health, particularly in chronic conditions. This article reports the differences in where and how dietary advice is occasioned and co-constructed by participants in two settings. One significant finding of this paper is that while Traditional Chinese Medicine doctors take dietary talk to instruct patients and put it into the treatment recommendation, WM doctors may treat it as incidental and only valuable for diagnostic assessment, leaving its treatment opaque and not discussed with the patient. Data are in Mandarin Chinese. Using Conversation Analysis, the article describes the interactional organisation of dietary advice delivery in different medical practices and ascribes their differences to clinical pathology.