The Pragmatics of Politeness Strategies in Nurse-Client Interactions

This text presents an analysis of data from interactions between nurses and clients observed in the context of selected health facilities in Kenya. The findings reveal a dominance of impolite strategies by nurses towards clients while clients regularly preferred conflict avoidance strategies. Clients opted for face threatening acts in order to claim their rights while nurses tended to emphasize and maintain their socially ascribed higher professional status. This situation calls for reforms in client care practices in Kenyan public health facilities in line with the charter of patients' rights and the nursing curriculum.