Family Health Conversations: How Do They Support Health?

Table 4

Categorization, characteristics, and examples of questions asked by conversational leaders in the exploring episodes.

Type of questions	Characteristics	Examples
“Comparative questions”	Focus on exploring change related to situation, function, behavior, feelings, and thoughts and on comparisons and differentiation of various experiences.	In what way do you think that it has changed?; What will be the biggest change for you?
“Analyzing questions”	Focus on exploring how interactions, situations, experiences, beliefs, changes, needs, behavior, and reactions manifested themselves and how they were understood and experienced.	How/what do you think then?; What does that mean to you?
“Connecting questions”	Focus on exploring the link between two phenomena expressed in the narration not previously connected. Experiences were linked to beliefs or the illness situation. Changes in emotions or behaviors were linked to changes in illness experiences.	Do you think that … makes a difference to …?; What you have just said… could this be related to …?
“Concluding statement questions”	Comprised conclusions of what had previously been explored and expressed, now reformulated as a question to the family.	So it was … (conclusion)?; It seems like (conclusion)…?
“Interpretive questions”	Comprised nurses’ interpretations of meanings grounded in what had been narrated and now presented to the family in the form of a question.	Do you feel that … (interpretation)?; Could it be that … (interpretation)?