How Chinese Women Cope With Physical and Psychological Traumas in Gynecological Examinations: A Situational Analysis of Patients’ Communicative Accommodations

Abstract

Based on 792 posts and 14 in-depth interviews, this study employs situational analysis to examine Chinese women’s communicative accommodation strategies and the complex situations that motivate their adoption of specific strategies. It finds that strategies such as interpersonal control and discourse management have empowered them to negotiate with medical authorities on the one hand and challenge the sexual and moral connotations of gynecological symptoms on the other hand. However, coping with disadvantageous material, relational, and spatiotemporal situations necessitates not only the enhancement of patient-provider communication but also the advocacy for institutional intervention and sociocultural transformation. The approach of situational analysis goes beyond the focus of intergroup relationships by original communication accommodation theory to highlight broader sociocultural and structural barriers to women’s health.