Interactional Tasks Research Articles

Interactional problems of addressing ‘dreaded issues’ in HIV-counselling

Addressing the patient's fears about the future is an essential task in HIV counselling. The paper examines with conversation analytical methods the interactional dynamics of such discussions in video- and audio-taped counselling sessions with patients coming for an HIV test and others diagnosed as HIV antibody positive. Two communication formats were found to be used in the sessions, one based on information delivery made by the counsellor and the other on interviewing the patient. The interactional tasks in the use of the interview format include persuading the patient to produce his/her own views of the future and moving from mere expression of troubles towards their management.

The Interplay of Communication Device Output Mode and Interaction Style between Nonspeaking Persons and their Speaking Partners

This study sought to determine how augmentative communication device output modes differentially affected various aspects of interactions between nonspeaking persons (NSPs) and their speaking partners (SPs). It was hypothesized that when an electronic output display (EOD) was added to a communication board, the semipermanent display of information would lessen the dyad's need to adopt specialized turn and message formulation conventions, permitting the NSP to construct more complex messages with fewer communication breakdowns. A series of 10 interactional teaching tasks were recorded for two adult male nonhandicapped dyads performing under the two output conditions (+/- EOD). Interaction transcripts were analyzed with regard to quantitative differences within and between dyads with respect to turn taking, message formulation, propositional content, and several types of insertion sequences (guessing, confirmation queries, message reformulations). With the exception of message reformulation, changes due to output mode were nonexistent or inconsistent for the variables measured within and across dyads. The addition of the EOD significantly lowered the rate of message reformulation and the total number of reformulation-related turns. Results are discussed with regard to research and clinical implications for augmentative communication.

Field Practica in Social Work Administration: Tasks, Auspice, Selection Criteria and Outcomes

Abstract This evaluative study of the field practicum in one MSW program in social work administration is based on data collected over a period of ten years on tasks performed by students, auspice of field placement agency and student prior experience in relation to outcomes of student performance and satisfaction. The findings revealed that better outcomes are associated with tasks performed on upper organizational levels, working with line staff, performing interactional tasks, interorganizational functions, in agencies under voluntary auspices. Data on age and prior experience of students indicate no support for using these criteria for selection of students for this type of education. The policy implications for social work education are discussed.

Towards a phonology of conversation: turn-taking in Tyneside English

Remarkably little is known in detail about the phonetics and phonology of naturally occurring conversational talk. Virtually nothing of interest is known of theinteractionalimplications of particular kinds of phonetic events in everyday talk: in particular about the ways in which participants in talk deploy general phonetic resources to accomplish specific interactional tasks. This is in part a consequence of the tendency of recent research on the phonological aspect of discourse to limit itself to ‘intonation’ as an area of primary interest. This work has moved away from the type of phonological analysis, such as that of Halliday (1967), that states intonational systems in terms of grammatically defined units or sentence types. Workers such as Brazil (1975, 1978, 1981), Brown, Currie and Kenworthy (1981), and Coulthard and Brazil (1981) have pursued Bolinger's suggestion that the relationship between intonation and grammar is ‘casual not causal’ and have sought to relate ‘intonation’ to discourse categories rather than to grammatical ones. These, and similar attempts to deal with aspects of discourse phonology, have suggested some organizational features which traditional linguistic accounts have not dealt with. On the whole, however, these recent attempts have been less than satisfactory for one or more of the following reasons.

Validation of Two Family Assessment Approaches

Twenty-two families completed the Family Environment Scale and an interactional task later coded for specific behaviors. Their scores were intercorrelated to compare the two assessment methods and provide validity information for four FES subscales. The Expressiveness and Conflict subscales correlated significantly with comparable behavioral variables, while the Cohesion and Control subscales did not. Correlations among the other FES subscales and the behavioral data are discussed with implications for the clinical utility of the FES. Subgroups consisting of intact nuclear, single-parent, and blended families also were contrasted and conclusions formulated regarding differences between these family types.

The Manipulation of Maternal Expectancy in a Mother-Child Interaction

Summary Seventy-four dyads of mother and nine-year-old son or daughter completed interactional tasks before and after receiving performance feedback. The dyads were randomly assigned to one of three feedback conditions, independent of the child's task performance. In the positive feedback condition mothers were told that their children were doing extremely well; in the negative feedback condition, that they were doing rather poorly; there was also a no-feedback condition. The effect of feedback was to alter the mother's evaluations and expectations of her child in spite of the fact that performance did not change. In particular, negative feedback produced the most profound effect resulting in negative evaluations, expectations, and an increase in the inconsistency of the mother's interactional behavior.

TASKS IN CHANGING THE ORGANIZATION FROM WITHIN (COFW)

This paper, after introducing the reader to some basic components of COFW, attempts to provide for the potential change catalyst in the human services organization more specific guidelines for action than are found in previously published material in this subfield. These guidelines are in the form of tasks--analytical and interactional. The analytical tasks discussed are: (a) goal determination--what the change shall be; (b) resistance assessment--who and what may be potential obstacles to this change; and (c) strategy selection--which guidelines or strategies may be utilized to achieve the change goal. Of the many interactional tasks in an organizational change project, two major ones are presented and explored: (a) developing the action system, and (b) meeting with the administrators for decision making.

SOCIAL INFLUENCES AND COMPETENCE IN PRETERM CHILDREN

The impact of the social environment on preterm children is largely unknown. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between social influences, as measured by detailed caregiver-child interactions, and the child's competence at age 2 in a sroup of preterm children. The subjects included in this report were 50 proterm children, 32 boys and 18 girls, and their English speaking primary caregivers. Only singletons and children free of major neurological problems were included. Caregiver-child interactions were observed when the child was 21 months of age in a laboratory situation that consisted of 4 interactional tasks. Tie interactional tasks were videotaped and three major categories of behavior were scored from the tapes: care-giver, child, and reciprocal interactions involving both members of the dyad. The assessments of competence in the second year of life included the Bayley Mental Scale given at 18 and 25 months and the Gesell Devolopmental Schedules at 24 months. The results indicated that children who differed in their competence were clearly different in caregiver-child interactions. The most consistent relationships between caregiver-child behaviors and competence were found for those behaviors which involved both the caregiver and the child in reciprocal social interchanges. In summary, this report had documented social influences beyond social class associated with competence in preterm children.

Characteristics of Schizogenic Families During a Joint Story‐Telling Task

For a joint family story‐telling task, families with a schizophrenic offspring were compared to normal families on the completeness and clarity of the final composite stories and on their interactional behavior. The composite stories from schizogenic families were more “vague and confused”, fragmented, and less complete as to the five components required to satisfy the task instructions. Schizogenic families displayed more conflict, failure, and confusion during the interactional task than control families, and, fathers and mothers of schizophrenic offspring displayed more “anxiety and tension”, “depressive mood”, “evasiveness” and “lack of interest” than fathers and mothers of normal families. Mothers of schizophrenic offspring were also described as more “hostile” than control mothers. Comparing schizogenic families from which the patient was absent during the task with schizogenic families with the patient present, and with control families, indicated that the central findings were not attributable to the immediate presence and participation of the schizophrenic member.