Clare MacMartin

Disclosure as Discourse Theorizing Children's Reports of Sexual Abuse

Conventional frameworks conceptualizing childrens disclosures of sexual abuse are helpful in drawing links between the dynamics of abuse and its subsequent reporting (e.g. Summit, 1983) and in articulating developmental impediments to disclosure (e.g. Bussey & Grimbeek, 1995). But these models underemphasize the discursive (and, hence, social) basis of childrens reports in that patterns of disclosure are depicted as individualistic phenomena. This article proposes a discursive reformulation of childrens reports of sexual abuse. The concept of co-construction is applied to the research traditions of conversation analysis (e.g. Nofsinger, 1991), the discourse action model (Edwards & Potter, 1992), narrative analysis (e.g. Bruner, 1991), positioning theory (e.g. Harré & van Langenhove, 1992) and cultural discourses (e.g. Burman, 1995) to theorize childrens reports of sexual abuse as socially situated collaborations. The implications of a discursive approach for concerns of power and social justice are discussed.

Sexual Motives and Sentencing Judicial Discourse in Cases of Child Sexual Abuse

The motives ascribed to offenders in the sentencing of sexual abuse crimes can be highly contentious. Some critics claim that sexual assaults are acts of power and violence and that reference to sexual motives minimizes violence and the seriousness of the offense. The present study examines 74 Canadian judicial sentencing decisions (1993-1997) involving offenders who had sexually abused children and adolescents. Using discursive social psychology, the authors analyze judicial explanations for the offenses, and their implications for mitigation and aggravation. Violent attributions were rare. Sex-based explanations predominated, variously invoking the selfish gratification of offenders’ sexual desires, sexual impulses, pedophilia, and offenders’ attraction to victims. However, in contrast to critics’ claims, these explanations are used by judges to emphasize the seriousness of these crimes. The findings highlight the importance of analyzing discourse in relation to action sequences rather than in isolation. The authors discuss the implications for the study of sexual assault and legal discourse.

(Un)reasonable Doubt? the Invocation of Children's Consent in Sexual Abuse Trial Judgments

The techniques of discursive psychology were used to analyze the discourse of offence descriptions in criminal trial judgments in recent cases of child sexual abuse in Canada. In certain cases, descriptions of the complaints provided resources that judges mobilized as a warrant for doubt by contrasting childrens negative reception of sexual abuse with the innocuous or positive character of subsequent social contact with offenders. This argument emphasizes the agency of children in consenting to affiliate with offenders, presuming that authentic victims can and would avoid further involvement. Although a childs consent to sexual contact is no longer a possible defence under Canadian law, these findings show how the notion of consent can enter current trial decisions. Recommendations suggest ways of incorporating alternative conceptions of abuse in which repeated contact with offenders is viewed as consonant with childrens dependent relationships with familiar (and often familial) abusers.

Treating Distressed Animals as Participants: I Know Responses in Veterinarians’ Pet-Directed Talk

This article reports on video analyses of 110 veterinary appointments in which pet-directed I know receipts were uttered by 15 veterinarians as responses to companion animals’ vocal and visible signals of distress. Patients’ distress was typically occasioned by medical activities constituting the appointment. The dual functions of I know as a claim of (a) prior knowledge of animals’ experiences and (b) shared feelings and affiliation with animals’ experiences made it an interactional resource for addressing client anxiety arising from the disalignment of animal patients with the goals of the appointment. Analysis of prosody, prefacing, the presence or absence of repeats, and postpositioned components demonstrated the flexibility of the I know receipt in modulating veterinarians’ stances toward their patients’ expressions of distress. Findings are discussed in relation to studies on the management of patient distress and pain in pediatric procedures and to previous research on clinician–patient empathy in veterinary medicine. Data are in Canadian English.

Effect of question design on dietary information solicited during veterinarian-client interactions in companion animal practice in Ontario, Canada

OBJECTIVE To establish the types of initial questions used by veterinarians in companion animal practice to solicit nutritional history information from owners of dogs and cats, the dietary information elicited, and the relationship between initial question-answer sequences and later nutrition-related questions. DESIGN Cross-sectional qualitative conversation analytic study. SAMPLE 98 appointments featuring 15 veterinarians drawn from an observational study of 284 videotaped veterinarian-client-patient visits involving 17 veterinarians in companion animal practices in eastern Ontario, Canada. PROCEDURES Veterinarian and client talk related to patient nutrition was identified and transcribed; conversation analysis was then used to examine the orderly design and details of talk within and across turns. Nutrition-related discussions occurred in 172 visits, 98 of which contained veterinarian-initiated question-answer sequences about patient nutritional history (99 sequences in total, with 2 sequences in 1 visit). RESULTS The predominant question format used by veterinarians was a what-prefaced question asking about the current content of the patients diet (75/99). Overall, 63 appointments involved a single what-prefaced question in the first turn of nutrition talk by the veterinarian (64 sequences in total). Dietary information in client responses was typically restricted to the brand name, the subtype (eg, kitten), or the brand name and subtype of a single food item. When additional diet questions were subsequently posed, they typically sought only clarification about the food item previously mentioned by the client. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Results suggested that question design can influence the accuracy and completeness of a nutritional history. These findings can potentially provide important evidence-based guidance for communication training in nutritional assessment techniques.

Qualitative study of the communication expectations of clients accessing oncology care at a tertiary referral center for dogs with life-limiting cancer

OBJECTIVE To describe the process aspects (communication) of the information expectations of clients accessing oncology care services at a tertiary referral center for dogs with life-limiting cancer. DESIGN Qualitative analysis of data acquired during in-person single and dyadic interviews. SAMPLE 43 dog owners participating in 30 interviews. PROCEDURES Independent in-person interviews were conducted with standardized open- and closed-ended questions from April to October 2009. Thematic analysis was performed on transcripts of the interview discussions. RESULTS The participants expected information to be communicated in a forthright manner; in multiple formats; with understandable language; in an unrushed environment wherein staff took the time to listen, answer all questions, and repeat information when necessary; on a continuous basis, with 24-hour access to address questions or concerns; in a timely manner; with positivity; with compassion and empathy; with a nonjudgmental attitude; and through staff with whom they had established relationships. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Results indicated that the manner in which information is communicated is vitally important to clients of dogs with life-limiting cancer in that it not only facilitates comprehension but also creates a humanistic environment from which clients derive the psychosocial support needed to successfully cope with their pets condition.

Sentencing Sexual Abuse Offenders: Sex Crimes and Social Justice

A major challenge in adjudicating criminal cases of sexual assault concerns the typical characteristics of sexual offences (for example, the frequent lack of physical harm to victims and the usual absence of obvious antisocial conduct by offenders). It has been claimed that these features are often used to discount the seriousness of sexual offences. Moreover, the sexualised aspects of these crimes are viewed as undermining recognition of their inherent violence, such that references to the sexual motives of offenders or to the sexual details of the offences guarantee that they will not be taken seriously. Some feminist theorists and legal critics have argued that sexual assaults, including child sexual abuse, must be seen as acts of power and violence; both offences and offenders’ motives must therefore be described in terms of violence. Such claims are frequently offered in the context of social justice considerations related to judicial decision-making. However, there are a number of problems with both the arguments and the analyses on which they are based. We first consider Canadian law, review some relevant Canadian literature and discuss some of these problems. We then further explore these concerns in relation to our previous analyses of Canadian judicial sentencing decisions in cases of child and adolescent sexual assault. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the implications for the sex-versus-violence debate in theorising about sexual crimes and for social justice issues in sentencing.

Repression, Dissociation, and the Recovered Memory Debate: Constructing Scientific Evidence and Expertise

We examine arguments about the scientific status of repression and dissociation in the written discourse of academic social scientists and clinicians on the controversial issue of recovered memories of child sexual abuse. The rhetorical deployment of theories, methods, and evidence by representatives of both camps regarding the authenticity of recovered memories, repression, and dissociation is compared. The ways in which supporters and sceptics bolster claims for their own expertise while undermining that of opponents are also explored. Supporters of recovered memory emphasise the pragmatic relevance of theories and clinical evidence, while sceptics draw rhetorically on positivist standards of scientific rigour and reliability to undermine claims of recovered memory. The themes of relevance and reliability are then related to discussions of recent legal changes in the United States on the admissibility of expert opinion evidence in recovered memory cases.

Discourses on Discourse: Theorizing Woman in Psychology

Tseëlon presents an ambitious analysis of gender display that draws upon historical, empirical, psychoanalytic and cultural studies approaches. WiLkinson and Kitzinger offer discussions of empirical work (e.g. on sexual harassment) and considerations of discourse analysis as theory and method. The works address and exemplify the tensions between language as discourse and as situated utterance, and between relativism and commitment to political change. Reflexivity and the status of the extra-discursive emerge as central issues in the dialogue between postmodernist feminist psychology and discourse analysis.