This book presents a comprehensive analysis of the use of
patient-/person-centred communication in providing healthcare for ageing
populations through an ethnographic approach to physician in-home
medical consultations in Tokyo, Japan, alongside interviews with
physicians. It focuses on illustrating how linguistic dimensions of
person-centred communication work by citing examples of case studies, as
well as the sociocultural differences between the US, the UK, Japan and
other societies in which person-centred communication models are
employed. The author uses her own framework, which takes into account
face and politeness theory, and makes recommendations for future
training.