ABSTRACT

Doubt is a common, yet challenging form of uncertainty to have about another’s illness. Although navigating illness uncertainty is a process of continual (re)appraisal and management, existing research narrowly examines windows of uncertainty experience. To illustrate how uncertainty management in the context of doubt is recursive, nonlinear, and ongoing, we apply a process approach to communication to uncertainty management theory. Drawing on interviews with 33 U.S. adults, our findings explicate a prominently teleological (i.e., goal-driven) process wherein participants’ uncertainty management served to accept or deny illness, depending on the extent individuals valued their own and the other’s identity and the relationship. Participants generally moved through this process along one of three trajectories: growth, stagnation, or resentment. We also observed dialectical, evolutionary, and life cycle processes in the data. Findings demonstrate the heuristic value of studying uncertainty management as a multiple motor process.

摘要

怀疑是对他人疾病的不确定性的一种常见但具有挑战性的形式。虽然导航疾病不确定性是一个持续（重新）评估和管理的过程，但现有研究狭隘地检查了不确定性体验的窗口。为了说明怀疑背景下的不确定性管理是如何递归的、非线性的和持续的，我们将过程方法应用于不确定性管理理论的沟通。根据对 33 名美国成年人的采访，我们的研究结果阐明了一个显着的目的论（即目标驱动）过程，其中参与者的不确定性管理用于接受或拒绝疾病，这取决于个人重视自己和他人的身份和关系的程度。参与者通常沿着以下三个轨迹之一完成此过程：增长、停滞或怨恨。我们还观察了数据中的辩证、进化和生命周期过程。研究结果证明了将不确定性管理作为一个多运动过程进行研究的启发式价值。