Dr Hoey is an Assistant Professor of Language and Communication at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam and is currently working with Professor Ruth Parry and colleagues in the Centre for Research on Communication and Culture in the School of Social Sciences and Humanities.
His research uses video recordings of actual interactions to unearth the recurrent practices that people use to assemble their everyday activities. He has examined extended silences in conversation, forms of breathing like sniffing and sighing, and the coordination of construction site activities. In his Fulbright research, he has been studying palliative care consultations, with a view to improving communication between healthcare professionals and the patients and families they serve.
In this lecture, Dr Hoey will present his latest research on ‘Patients’ references to customary behaviours in hospice consultations’. In the hospice, physio- and occupational therapists regularly talk to patients to get a sense of how they are getting on in daily life, eg with bathing, eating and sleeping.
A central aim of these consultations is to learn about patients’ routines so as to identify areas of difficulty, pain and stress. The therapeutic interest is in suggesting or advising on ways to go about these activities to make them ‘easier’ for the patient (and for carers). For example, a patient’s complaint of getting tired while brushing their teeth might occasion the offer of a ‘perching stool’ to put in the bathroom.
In these circumstances, patients routinely bring up ‘how I normally do things’ (eg ‘I usually brush my teeth early on, when I know I have the energy’). In this lecture, Dr Hoey will report on his analysis of such moments as they occur in actual hospice consultations. Based on a large corpus of video recordings made at an English hospice and examined using Conversation Analysis, he will focus on what patients (and their companions) accomplish through such mentions of their customary behaviours. He will explore how patients mobilise ‘how I normally do things' as a means of managing the prospect (or necessity) of modifying their routines.
Marsha Meskimmon, Director of the Institute of Advanced Studies, said: “We are delighted to host another outstanding Fulbright scholar at the IAS. Dr Hoey's ground-breaking work on critical care could not be more timely, and we hope that colleagues from across both of our campuses will join this event online.”
Professor Steve Rothberg, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research, added: “I’m delighted that we are hosting another Fulbright Scholar. Communications research continues to be one of Loughborough’s greatest strengths and I am sure that Dr Hoey’s time with us will be of benefit both to our own research and to Dr Hoey’s growing reputation in this field.”
All are welcome to attend and can register online here.