Maintaining patient autonomy in geriatric triadic medical consultations: A discourse analysis of information provision.

OBJECTIVES: This study examines how elderly patients and their companions participate in information provision during geriatric triadic medical consultations. It aims to explore whether patients maintain their priority in providing first-hand information in the presence of companions. METHODS: Twelve triadic consultations in family medicine clinics were analyzed using Tsai's (2007) framework of information-providing cycles. The analysis focused on how information provision is distributed between patients and companions and how participation is organized in interactional sequences. RESULTS: The results showed that elderly patients remained the primary providers of information, accounting for 68.43% of information-providing cycles. Companions also participated in information-providing sequences through responding to physicians' questions, volunteering information, and jointly contributing with patients. Information exchange was predominantly physician-elicited, although both patients and companions also contributed spontaneously. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide a baseline description of how information provision is organized in routine geriatric triadic consultations. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Understanding how information is distributed between patients and companions may inform future research on communication in more complex geriatric consultations.