Exploring the Discourse on Communication Modality After Cochlear Implantation: A Foucauldian Analysis of Parents’ Narratives
Temas
Detalles
After pediatric cochlear implantation, parents have to make decisions concerning which communication modality the child and the child’s family will use. The choice has to be made against a background of opposing views on communication modality in follow-up after pediatric cochlear implantation. The opposing views form a discourse that has been a core issue in the international body of literature for a long time. For hearing parents caught up in this ongoing controversy, the choice can be a difficult one. The study reported in this article explores the discourse on communication modality and is based on 27 written parental accounts on experiences with follow-up. From the perspective of Foucault’s thinking, discourses exert knowledge and power. Drawing on Foucault, the study explores how the discourse on communication modality is constructed, how it operates, and how it governs thinking and acting. The Foucauldian analysis brings to the fore the complex nature of the discourse and states that follow-up, which is intended to be helpful for parents, may induce insecurity and frustration. The study brings into conversation a broader understanding of the discourse on communication modality and addresses a need for increased awareness on how the discourse governs thinking and acting in follow-up.