Based on the observation of around seventy memory consultations, this article provides an analysis of cognitive assessment in the elderly in a Goffmanian perspective. During these interactions, patients run the risk of losing their credibility, given that what they say is both solicited by the geriatrician in order to spot potential daily difficulties and examined as potential signs of dementia. After having described how observed consultations work, the author presents the main strategies that patients seem to develop when doctors place their credibility in doubt and concludes with some reflections about interpretive issues regarding the elderly patients’ behavior during medical assessment.
BeaudStéphaneWeberFlorence. 2003. Guide de l’enquête de terrain. Paris: La Découverte.
2.
BjellandAnne Karen. 1985. “Aging and Identity Management in a Norwegian Elderly Home.” Human Relations38 (2): 151–65.
3.
BrossardBaptiste. 2013. “Jouer sa crédibilité en consultation mémoire. Les personnes âgées face à l’évaluation cognitive.” Sociologie4 (1): 1–17.
4.
BurnhamJohn C.2014. “Why Sociologists Abandoned the Sick Role Concept.” History of the Human Sciences27 (1): 70–87.
5.
CaddellLisa S.ClareLinda. 2010. “The Impact of Dementia on Self and Identity: A Systematic Review.” Clinical Psychology Review30 (1): 113–26.
6.
CharmazKathy. 2006. Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide through Qualitative Analysis. London: Sage.
7.
ClareLinda. 2004. “The Construction of Awareness in Early-Stage Alzheimer’s Disease: A Review of Concepts and Models.” British Journal of Clinical Psychology43 (2): 155–75.
8.
DaviesCharlotte Aull. 2008. Reflexive Ethnography: A Guide to Researching Selves and Others. London: Routledge.
9.
FreidsonEliot. 1970. Profession of Medicine: A Study of the Sociology of Applied Knowledge. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
10.
GoffmanErving. 1959. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Anchor.
11.
GoffmanErving. 1967. Interaction Ritual: Essays in Face to Face Behavior. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books.
12.
GoffmanErving. 1974. Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. Harvard: Harvard University Press.
13.
HerskovitsElizabeth. 1995. “Struggling over Subjectivity: Debates about the ‘Self’ and Alzheimer’s Disease.” Medical Anthropology Quarterly9 (2): 146–64.
14.
HolmströmIngerRöingMarta. 2010. “The Relation between Patient-Centeredness and Patient Empowerment: A Discussion on Concepts.” Patient Education and Counseling79 (2): 167–72.
15.
KatzJack. 1999. How Emotions Work. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
16.
ManningPhilip. 2000. “Credibility, Agency, and the Interaction Order.” Symbolic Interaction23 (3): 283–97.
17.
ParsonsTalcott. 1951. The Social System. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
18.
PaternitiDebora A.2000. “The Micropolitics of Identity in Adverse Circumstance: A Study of Identity Making in a Total Institution.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography29 (1): 93–119.
19.
PaternitiDebora A.2003. “Claiming Identity in a Nursing Home.” In Ways of Aging, edited by GubriumJaber F.HolsteinJames A., 58–74. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
20.
PilnickAlisonDingwallRobert. 2011. “On the Remarkable Persistence of Asymmetry in Doctor/Patient Interaction: A Critical Review.” Social Science & Medicine (1982)72 (8): 1374–82.
21.
RoyDonald. 1959. “‘Banana Time’: Job Satisfaction and Informal Interaction.” Human Organization18 (4): 158–68.
22.
ScheffThomas J.1966. Being Mentally Ill: A Sociological Theory. Chicago: Aldine.
23.
StiversTanya. 2006. “Treatment Decisions: Negotiations between Doctors and Parents in Acute Care Encounters.” In Communication in Medical Care: Interaction between Primary Care Physicians and Patients, 279–312. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
24.
StraussAnselmFagerhaughShizukoSuczekBarbaraWienerCarolyn. 1985. Social Organization of Medical Work. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
25.
SurrClaire Alice. 2006. “Preservation of Self in People with Dementia Living in Residential Care: A Socio-Biographical Approach.” Social Science & Medicine62 (7): 1720–30.
