Handling bad news in a male reproductive health clinic: a speech act perspective

Abstract

Communication is a crucial tool in all forms of interaction. The medical world without communication is inconceivable. Guided by Austin’s  speech act theory, this work explores how doctors relay bad news in the form of infertility diagnoses in a reproductive health  clinic in Kenya and the responses of male patients to this news. It is a qualitative study in a public health facility in Nakuru town in Nakuru  County, Kenya. The two male patients recruited for this study were willing to participate without payment or coercion. The  conversation on reproductive health problems between the doctor and male patients was collected using participant observation. The  diagnosis of male infertility can be a significant source of distress for male patients as it challenges traditional perceptions of masculinity. Similar locutionary and illocutionary acts can elicit very different perlocutionary acts. An utterance, once made, cannot be altered, nor can  its effect. A man’s emotional response to an infertility diagnosis is profound and irreversible. Bad news in a reproductive health clinic  includes male infertility diagnoses, a condition that impacts the masculine identity of a man and threatens his entire existence.