Negotiating Goals: Exploring the Dialogue Between Professionals and Patients in Team-Meetings

Abstract

The aim of this study is to explore the negotiation of goals in team meetings with patients within a specialized rehabilitation context: What characterizes the dialogue between professionals and patients in goal meetings? Despite agreement in the literature that the patients’ perspectives and participation are significant in goal setting processes, there seem to be few studies on characteristics of the dialogue in such meetings with patients. The data derived from audio-recorded observations of three team meetings with various health care professionals and patients within rehabilitation services. The method can be characterized as a theme-oriented discourse analysis, which is a qualitative method for analyzing how language constructs professional practice. The analysis identifies two main themes: 1. Reviewing goals: from standardized readings to everyday language. 2. Setting meaningful goals. The article discusses characteristics of the patients´ participation in the dialogue, and how professionals de-emphasize inherent power inequalities in the negotiation of goals.