Conversation Analysis on Decision Making Processes in Long-distance Caregiving: Methods of Dealing with Dilemmas and the Distribution of Responsibility

Abstract

How is long-distance caregiving done? In this paper, to clarify one aspect, I carried out a Conversation Analysis on decision-making processes in long-distance caregiving during a care conference. Sometimes, there are moral dilemmas in long-distance caregiving that exist in the interaction between the distant family and the care manager. In order to deal with these dilemmas, those involve mainly use the following methods: (1) the use of the final particle “-yone” to claim an independent epistemic primacy while exhibiting an affiliative stance, and (2) the co-completion of a turn through taking advantage of the division in a Turn Constructional Unit. Through these two methods, a distribution of responsibilities is accomplished which makes it possible for the participants to deal with the moral dilemmas involved in long-distance caregiving.