School of Communication, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858, USA.
Health Commun. 2012;27(3):292-301. doi: 10.1080/10410236.2011.585449. Epub 2011 Sep 7.
Communication variables that are associated with face-negotiation theory were examined in a sample of operating-room physicians. A survey was administered to anesthesiologists and surgeons at a teaching hospital in the southwestern United States to measure three variables commonly associated with face-negotiation theory: conflict-management style, face concern, and self-construal. The survey instrument that was administered to physicians includes items that measured these three variables in previous face-negotiation research with slight modification of item wording for relevance in the medical setting. The physician data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis, Pearson's correlations, and t-tests. Results of this initial investigation showed that variables associated with face-negotiation theory were evident in the sample physician population. In addition, the correlations were similar among variables in the medical sample as those found in previous face-negotiation research. Finally, t-tests suggest variance between anesthesiologists and surgeons on specific communication variables. These findings suggest three implications that warrant further investigation with expanded sample size: (1) An intercultural communication theory and instrument can be utilized for health communication research; (2) as applied in a medical context, face-negotiation theory can be expanded beyond traditional intercultural communication boundaries; and (3) theoretically based communication structures applied in a medical context could help explain physician miscommunication in the operating room to assist future design of communication training programs for operating-room physicians.
在一个手术室医生样本中，考察了与面子协商理论相关的沟通变量。在美国西南部的一所教学医院，对麻醉师和外科医生进行了一项调查，以衡量与面子协商理论通常相关的三个变量：冲突管理风格、面子关注和自我建构。用于测量这些三个变量的调查工具在以前的与面子协商相关的研究中使用过，只是为了在医疗环境中的相关性而对措辞进行了轻微修改。使用验证性因素分析、皮尔逊相关系数和 t 检验对医生数据进行了分析。这项初步研究的结果表明，与面子协商理论相关的变量在样本医生群体中是明显存在的。此外，医学样本中变量之间的相关性与之前面子协商研究中的相关性相似。最后，t 检验表明，麻醉师和外科医生在特定沟通变量上存在差异。这些发现表明，有三个方面的意义值得进一步调查，需要扩大样本量：（1）跨文化交际理论和工具可以用于健康传播研究；（2）在医学背景下，面子协商理论可以超越传统的跨文化交际界限；（3）在医学背景下应用基于理论的沟通结构可以帮助解释手术室医生之间的沟通误解，以协助未来为手术室医生设计沟通培训计划。
