My research interests revolve around the social dynamics between actors with different backgrounds and competing interests, such as scientists, policymakers or citizens. Specifically, I study how communicative behaviors may facilitate synergetic action or lead to fiercely debated controversy between those actors. For instance, how do healthcare professionals address misinformation in medical settings, or how were governmental messages about COVID-19 contested on social media? To research these questions, I rely on a variety of methods, including conversation analysis, framing analysis and surveys. One important part of my work concerns the issue of how our research findings can inform policy guidelines and communication trainings.
In my dissertation, titled Shots at Stake: Facilitating interactions between professionals and parents on childhood vaccinations, I have analyzed 75 conversations between healthcare professionals and parents talking about childhood vaccination. This research project provided insights into how interlocutors arrive at the decision whether to vaccinate, how parents’ vaccination concerns are presented and addressed, and how professionals deal with parents who refuse to vaccinate their child. The findings were translated into an accredited communication training for healthcare professionals. We aim to test and validate the communication training in an upcoming intervention study.
