Formulation in clinical interviews

Area of Science:

• Social Sciences
• Linguistics
• Psychology

Background:

• Formulation, as defined by Garfinkel and Sacks, involves how individuals discuss their ongoing interactions.
• Clinical assessment interviews involve evaluating a respondent's capacities.
• Conversation Analysis (CA) provides a framework for examining interactional practices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the use of formulations in clinical assessment interviews.
• To investigate how formulations provide evidence of a respondent's assessed capacities.
• To understand the role of formulations in establishing a shared understanding within the interaction.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of videotaped data from clinical interviews with unemployed adults and older persons.
• Application of Conversation Analysis (CA) methodologies.
• Examination of vocalized and embodied actions, including gaze, during formulation.

Main Results:

• Formulations are achieved through multimodal actions (vocalizations, gestures like finger pointing, nodding) combined with speaker gaze.
• These actions facilitate access to a shared epistemic domain within the interaction.
• Participants utilize formulations to collaboratively construct viewpoints on the respondent's social competence.

Conclusions:

• Formulations are interactional achievements that reveal participants' orientations to the interview process.
• The study highlights how formulations serve as a resource for assessing social competence in clinical settings.
• Explicit attention to the interactional substrate of interviews is demonstrated through the analysis of formulations.