Clients as conversational agents.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Conversational agency is our invented term that orients us to ways in which clients participate in therapeutic dialogues. In this study we examined how clients' conversational correctives and initiatives influenced collaborative therapeutic consultations. METHODS: Thirty-five single-session lifestyle consultations were videotaped in which adult clients volunteered to discuss concerns of non-clinical severity with a counselor. We discursively microanalyzed excerpts where clients initiated topic shifts or corrected counselor misunderstandings and how counselors responded to them. RESULTS: Clients were actively involved in co-managing conversational developments during the consultations. They influenced the content and course of the conversations with the counselors by correcting, interrupting, or speaking from positions contrary or unrelated to those of the counselors. CONCLUSION: Clients observably influenced the conversational agenda through their correctives and initiatives if counselors were responsive during face-to-face consultations. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Clinicians should demonstrate increased sensitivity and relational responsivity by intentionally engaging with clients' agentive contributions to consultative dialogues.