Withholding advice for rapport management in online medical counselling interactions
A comparative perspective
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21200910 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Na Yang (0000-0002-7173-9457, Tampere University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 123-147 |
| Publication date | 2026-01-27 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Pragmatics and Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1878-9714 • E-ISSN: 1878-9722 |
| Publisher | John Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL) |
| DOI | 10.1075/ps.19042.yan |
| OpenAlex | W4409425875 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 34 |
This paper investigates how male and female doctors manage rapport by withholding advice in online medical counselling interactions. Data were collected from 60 doctors’ replies in response to web users’ advice-seeking inquiries on the Chinese health care website ‘ Good Doctor Online ’. From a comparative perspective, the study examined the use of two advice withholding strategies for rapport management — challenging a patient and parading expertise. The findings show that (1) both male and female doctors use the strategies to mitigate their authoritative force and empower patients with autonomy; and (2) female doctors tend to get the patients more involved in the interaction, while male doctors remain relatively more authoritative in accounting for their withholding behaviour. This research contributes to the study of health communication and extends the investigation of advice withholding from general discussions into a comparative analysis
Medical education · Computer Science · Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Medicine · Psychology · Transactional Analysis in Psychotherapy
Communication in Medical Care
Power and Politeness in the Workplace
Public Health and Online Misinformation
Computer-Mediated Discourse Analysis
Cross-Cultural Pragmatics
Patient-Centred Communication in Ask-the-Expert Healthcare Websites
The emergence of the identity of a fictional expert advice-giver in an American Internet advice column
Gender, Communication, and Self-Presentation in Teen Chatrooms Revisited
Gender, Identity, and Language Use in Teenage Blogs
Here's the link”
Gender, politeness and institutional power roles
Withholding academic advice
Aspects of recipient design in expert advice‐giving on call‐in radio
Telling about problems and giving advice in an Internet discussion forum
Going general as a resource for doing advising in post-observation conferences in teacher training
Politeness
The Pragmatics of Politeness
Problematizing information-seeking Wh-questions
The multi-functionality of accounts in advice giving1
Sharing a laugh
From conditions to strategies
Pragmeme, adaptability, and elasticity in online medical consultations
Small talk in medical conversations
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |