DISCOURSE PATTERNS AND THERAPEUTIC STRATEGIES IN NAIRALAND VIRTUAL COMMUNITY MEDICAL THREADS

Abstract

This study examines therapeutic strategies in patients/medical practitioner (PMPs) interactions. Fifty web pages of health discourse from threads with a high number of responses were collected from the archives of the Nairaland Virtual Community (NVC) threads. Thirty-five posts were purposively selected for analysis because they were representations of the patterns and discourse strategies featured in the whole data. The qualitative research design was employed in the analysis using Herring’s Computer-Mediated Discourse Analysis (CMDA). There were five major discourse patterns in the NVC medical threads: opening, pre-consultation/diagnosis, post-consultation/diagnosis, responses, and feedback. Opening and responses were constructed by the medical practitioners (MPs) which invariably constitute the therapeutic strategies. Opening as a pattern deploys greeting, self-introduction, identifying a health issue, voicing interest, building trust in the patients, prayers, smiling emoticons, sharing hope, and endearing terms as therapeutic strategies. Responses as a pattern deploy explaining, describing, defining, warning, advising, clarifying, validating achievement, and direct off-line help as therapeutic strategies. The patients construct pre-consultation/diagnosis, post-consultation/diagnosis, and feedback with questioning, complaining, clarifying personal medical issues, and appreciating the MPs. The new media has broken the barriers to medical communication by creating a positive effect on the patients and increasing their self-esteem.