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Qualitative Health Research
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Pathologizing or Validating: Intake Workers' Discursive Constructions of Mothers

Rachel C. Berman

Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Leslie Wilson

Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

We employ a feminist discursive lens to re-examine an earlier thematic-based analysis of intake workers' reports of interviews with mothers at a children's hospital. In the original study the first author focused on coping styles of parents of children with exceptionalities, whereas in the current study we demonstrate how intake workers' discursive constructions of mothers as pathological functions to dismiss mothers' views and concerns, and constructions of sets of parents as open to expert advice functions to validate them as "effective allies." In this article, we seek to provide an example of how our analytical lens serves to produce various findings that might serve the voices of the more powerful, or of the marginalized. As an outcome of the re-analysis of the data, we recommend an approach to parent— professional interaction that involves enacting language that fosters mutual respect between professionals and parents, and in particular between intake workers and mothers.

Key Words: children • disability • communication • discourse analysis • families • feminism • gender • health care • culture of • health care • users' experiences • mothering

Qualitative Health Research, Vol. 19, No. 4, 444-453 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1049732309332720
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