'Good' and 'bad' deaths: Narratives and professional identities in interviews with hospice managers

This article explores the formal and functional characteristics of narratives of 'good' and 'bad' deaths as they were told by 13 UK-based hospice managers in the course of semi-structured interviews. The interviewees' responses include a variety of remarkably consistent ...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Discourse studies 2014-10, Vol.16 (5), p.667-685
Main Authors: Semino, Elena, Demjén, Zsófia, Koller, Veronika
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Death
Discourse analysis
Evaluation
Interviews
Language
Linguistics
Managers
Metaphor
Methodology
Narrative devices
Narratives
Occupational identity
Palliative care
Pronouns
United Kingdom
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Summary:This article explores the formal and functional characteristics of narratives of 'good' and 'bad' deaths as they were told by 13 UK-based hospice managers in the course of semi-structured interviews. The interviewees' responses include a variety of remarkably consistent 'narratives of successful/frustrated intervention', which exhibit distinctive formal characteristics in terms of the starting point and core of the action, the choice of personal pronouns and metaphors, and the ways in which positive and negative evaluation is expressed. In functional terms, the hospice managers' narratives play an important role in representing and constructing their professional views, challenges and identities. Overall, the narratives argue for the role of hospices and professional hospice staff in facilitating a 'good' death, and, by presenting a relatively unified view, may potentially preclude alternative perspectives.
ISSN:1461-4456
1461-7080
DOI:10.1177/1461445614538566