Gender Differences in the Use of Politeness Strategies by Iraqi Nursing Students in Patient Interactions
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Abstract
Linguistic research on communication in diverse health care settings is a much-needed area of study that requires further scholarly attention. This study aims to investigate the influence of gender on the use of politeness strategies employed by nursing college students during their interaction with patients in Mosuli Arabic nurse-patient encounters. The study hypothesizes that male and female nursing students employ different types of politeness strategies in their interactions with patients. Brown and Levinson’s (1987) politeness theory serves as the theoretical framework for this study. A naturalistic observation method is utilised to collect data from 8 male and 8 female nursing students, as well as 40 patients in a public medical setting. The study finds that gender influences the use of politeness strategies among male and female nursing students. Specifically, it has been found that male nursing students are more inclined to be direct and explicit in their communication with patients, whereas their female counterparts are less inclined to do so.
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