Stories of Change: Comparative Time-Framed Experience Telling in Health Promotion Group Discussions.

In this article, we examine comparative time-framed experience telling: episodes of interaction in health promotion group discussions in which one of the participants tells their experience and, in response, another participant tells their own experiences from separate moments or periods of their life and compares them. In so doing, group members reinforce and encourage the previous speaker's positive stance or challenge the negative stance toward contextually relevant objects: behavior change and suggested solutions. This practice allows group members to demonstrate their independent access to experiences that are similar to those of the other, present evidence of similarities and differences between the experiences, and show their epistemic independence regarding their claims. By recontextualizing the experience of the other in this way, it becomes possible for the group members to interpret and even oppose it while maintaining a level of understanding of the differences between the experiences in question and respecting them.

Group members' questions shape participation in health counselling and health education.

OBJECTIVE: This study examines how group members' questions shape member participation in health counselling and health education groups. METHODS: The study applies conversation analytic principles as a method. The data consist of video-recorded health education lessons in secondary school and health counselling sessions for adults with a high risk of Type 2 diabetes. RESULTS: Group members' questions accomplish a temporary change in participatory roles. They are used to 1) request counselling, 2) do counselling or 3) challenge previous talk. They are usually treated as relevant and legitimate actions by the participants, but are occasionally interpreted as transitions outside the current action or topic. CONCLUSION: Group members' questions result in a shift from leader-driven to member-driven discussion. Thus they constitute a pivot point for detecting changes in participation in group interventions. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Observing the occurrence of group members' questions helps group leaders to adjust their own actions accordingly and thus facilitate or guide group participation. Comparison of the type and frequency of members' questions is a way to detect different trajectories for delivering group interventions and can thus be used to develop methods for process evaluation of interventions.