Alison Pilnick

Contact

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• work0115 95 15237
• fax0115 95 15232
• alison.pilnick@nottingham.ac.uk

Biography

I first came to the University of Nottingham as a pharmacy undergraduate, and after a spell working as a hospital pharmacist at the Queen's Medical Centre, returned to the University to undertake postgraduate studies in the School of Sociology and Social Policy. I have been a lecturer in Sociology since 1998.

My research interests lie primarily in the field of the sociology of health and illness, with a particular interest in interactions between health and social care professionals and their patients or clients. I have worked with a wide range of health professionals in a wide range of care settings both in the UK and overseas, using audio and video recordings to examine interactions and to inform and develop communication skills training. This is linked to a broader interest in the use of qualitative methods in sociological research.

From 2000-2006 I was a co-editor of the journal Sociology of Health and Illness. Since 2006 I have been an advisory editor for the journal Social Science and Medicine. I served on the BSA Medical Sociology Group Committee from 1997-2001, and from 2012-2016 was a member of the American Sociological Association (Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis Section) Committee. In 2015 I was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in recognition of my research in healthcare.

From 2015-19 I was Director of the Nottingham ESRC Doctoral Training Centre. Prior to that, from 2011-2015 I was Head of Training for the DTC, responsible for the day to day academic running and for managing our overall research training provision. From 2016-19 I was also the Deputy Director of the ESRC Midlands Graduate School Doctoral Training Partnership, a collaboration between 6 Midlands universities led by the University of Warwick. In 2021 I was appointed to the ESRC Strategic Advisory Network, the body that advises ESRC on strategies, schemes, investments and interventions.

In January 2020 I was awarded a place on the Academy of Medical Science's FLIER (Future Leaders in Innovation, Enterprise and Research) programme, becoming the first sociologist to participate. The programme enables researchers to create collaborations across academia, industry, the NHS and government to enhance innovation. From October 2020-January 2022 I held a British Academy Senior Research Fellowship, working on a project entitled 'Between autonomy and abandonment: reconsidering patient-centred care' which is now in its dissemination phase.

My recent teaching has mostly been research methods focused, related to the DTC/P. This includes DTC modules on Qualitative Research Methods, and Analysing Verbal and Visual Interaction. In 2012 I was the recipient of a Lord Dearing Award for teaching excellence.

I have considerable experience of PhD supervision, having successfully supervised over 25 PhD students to date. A number of these projects were interdisciplinary, working with colleagues from the Medical School, School of Veterinary Science, School of Law and the Business School amongst others. Student topics have included goal setting in physiotherapist/patient interaction, the nature of collaborative work in operating theatres, decision-making by women at risk of hereditary breast cancer, risk communication in genetic counselling, advice giving in obesity clinics; and the development and examination of interventions to improve healthcare communication in settings including acute dementia care and learning disability. I particularly welcome applications from PhD students interested in interaction in healthcare related fields.

orcid.org/0000-0003-0987-8760

Teaching Summary

Though I have taught across a range of areas, including social theory, philosophy of social science, and medical sociology, my current teaching is mostly research methods focused and linked to the… read more

Research Summary

My research uses audio, or preferably, video recordings, to examine interaction between health and social care professionals and their clients or patients and to use these findings to inform and… read more

Recent Publications

• ALISON PILNICK, 2022. Practitioner-Client Relationships. In: LEE MONAGHAN and JONATHAN GABE, eds., Key Concepts in Medical Sociology 3rd edition.
• ALISON PILNICK, 2022. Reconsidering patient-centred care: between autonomy and abandonment Emerald. (In Press.)
• POKU BRENDA AGYEIWAA, PILNICK ALISON and KIRK SUSAN, 2022. How a child's gender mediates maternal care and expectations in the fatigue experiences of adolescents with sickle cell disease Journal of Family Studies.
• BRENDA POKU and ALISON PILNICK, 2022. Biographical accounts of the impact of fatigue in young people with sickle cell disease Sociology of Health and Illness. 44(6), 1027-1046

• View all publications

Though I have taught across a range of areas, including social theory, philosophy of social science, and medical sociology, my current teaching is mostly research methods focused and linked to the ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership. This includes running a module on Analysing Verbal and Visual Interaction, and contributing to a module on Qualitative Methods. For many years I taught Sociology of Health and Illness for the Masters of Public Health programme at Nottingham Medical School. I am a co-convenor of the MA in Healthcare Language and Communication, which is an e-learning Masters programme run jointly with the School of English Studies and the School of Nursing. In 2012 I was the recipient of a Lord Dearing Award for teaching excellence.

Current Research

My research uses audio, or preferably, video recordings, to examine interaction between health and social care professionals and their clients or patients and to use these findings to inform and develop communication skills training. These recordings come from clinics, hospital wards, GP surgeries, or anywhere that healthcare is delivered. My preferred way of working is a method called conversation analysis which is highly detailed and, despite the name, also allows analysis of non-verbal and paralinguistic features of interactions. Though my work spans a wide range of settings, I'm particularly interested in some core practices which recur across healthcare settings: advice giving; communicating uncertainty; communicating risk; patient choice and decision making; communicating where one party has a condition that can affect talk (e.g. dementia); communicating where parties don't share a first language. As well as working to improve communication in specific settings, I'm also interested in trying to improve communication skills training more generally. For example, actors playing 'simulated patients' are common participants in healthcare training, and conversation analysis can be used to improve the authenticity of their interactions. Over the years, my work in this field has been supported by funders including ESRC, NIHR, General Research Fund of Hong Kong, Swiss National Science Foundation, Big Lottery Fund and the British Academy.

Past Research

URLs for selected publications- for a full list of publications please click on the tab at the top of the page.

Pilnick, A., Clegg, J., Murphy, E. and Almack, K. (2010) Questioning the answer: questioning style, choice and self-determination in interactions with young people with intellectual disabilities, Sociology of Health and Illness, 32 (3): 415-36. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9566.2009.01223.x/pdf

Pilnick, A. (2008) "It's something for you both to think about": choice and decision making in nuchal translucency screening for Down's syndrome, Sociology of Health and Illness, 30 (4): 511-30 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9566.2007.01071.x/pdf

Hindmarsh, J. and Pilnick, A. (2007) Knowing bodies at work: Embodiment and ephemeral teamwork in anaesthesia, Organization Studies, 28 (9): 1395-1416.Knowing bodies at work

Allen D and Pilnick, A (2005) Making conections: a case study in the social organization of healthcare. Sociology of Health and Illness, 27 (6): 683-700 Making connections: A case study in the social organisation of healthcare work

Pilnick, A. (2004) 'It's just one of the best tests that we've got at the moment': the presentation of screening for fetal abnormality in pregnancy, Discourse and Society, 15 (4): 451-465. 'It's just one of the best tests...'

Pilnick A (2002) "There are no rights and wrongs in these situations": identifying interactional difficulties in genetic counselling. Sociology of Health and Illness, 24 (1) 66-88. Identifying interactional difficulties in genetic counselling

Pilnick, A (1998) "Why didn't you just say that?": Dealing with issues of knowledge, competence and asymmetry in the pharmacist/client encounter, Sociology of Health and Illness, 20 (1) 29-51."Why didn't you just say that?": Dealing with issues of knowledge, competence and asymmetry in the pharmacist/client encounter

• ALISON PILNICK, 2022. Practitioner-Client Relationships. In: LEE MONAGHAN and JONATHAN GABE, eds., Key Concepts in Medical Sociology 3rd edition.
• ALISON PILNICK, 2022. Reconsidering patient-centred care: between autonomy and abandonment Emerald. (In Press.)
• POKU BRENDA AGYEIWAA, PILNICK ALISON and KIRK SUSAN, 2022. How a child's gender mediates maternal care and expectations in the fatigue experiences of adolescents with sickle cell disease Journal of Family Studies.
• BRENDA POKU and ALISON PILNICK, 2022. Biographical accounts of the impact of fatigue in young people with sickle cell disease Sociology of Health and Illness. 44(6), 1027-1046
• VICTORIA CLULEY, ALISON PILNICK and RACHEL FYSON, 2022. Talking about learning disability: discursive acts in managing an ideological dilemma SSM- Qualitative Research in Health. 2,
• POKU BRENDA AGYEIWAA and PILNICK ALISON, 2022. Research knowledge transfer to improve the care and support of adolescents with sickle cell disease in Ghana Health Expectations. 25(5), 2515-2524
• SLOCOMBE, FELICITY, PEEL, ELIZABETH, PILNICK, ALISON and ALBERT, SAUL, 2022. Keeping the conversation going: How progressivity is prioritised in co-remembering talk between couples impacted by dementia. Health (London, England : 1997). 13634593221127822
• ZOTTOLA, A., JONES, L., PILNICK, A., MULLANY, L., BOUMAN, W. and ARCELUS, J., 2021. Identifying coping strategies used by patients at a transgender health clinic through analysis of free‐text autobiographical narratives Health Expectations.
• PILNICK, A., O'BRIEN, R., BEEKE, S., HARWOOD, R. and GOLDBERG, S., 2021. Avoiding repair, maintaining face: Responding to hard-to-interpret talk from people living with dementia in the acute hospital Social Science and Medicine. 282, 114156
• PILNICK, A., 2021. Reconceptualising research, reconceptualising responsibility: A rejoinder to ‘Collecting qualitative data during a pandemic’ by David Silverman Communication and Medicine. 17(1), 92-95
• O'BRIEN, REBECCA, BEEKE, SUZANNE, PILNICK, ALISON, GOLDBERG, SARAH E and HARWOOD, ROWAN H, 2020. When people living with dementia say 'no': Negotiating refusal in the acute hospital setting. Social science & medicine (1982). 263, 113188
• CLULEY, V., PILNICK, A. and FYSON, R., 2020. Improving the inclusivity and credibility of visual research: interpretive engagement as a route to including the voices of people with learning disabilities in analysis VISUAL STUDIES.
• PILNICK, A. and ZAYTS, O., 2019. The power of suggestion: examining the impact of presence or absence of shared first language in the antenatal clinic Sociology of Health and Illness. 41(6), 1120-1137 (In Press.)
• CLUELY, V., FYSON, R. and PILNICK, A., 2019. Theorising disability: a practical and representative ontology of learning disability Disability and Society. (In Press.)
• HOLLIN, G., PILNICK, A. and (JOINT FIRST AUTHORSHIP), 2018. The categorisation of resistance: Interpreting failure to follow a proposed line of action in the diagnosis of autism amongst young adults. Sociology of Health and Illness. 40(7), 1215-1232
• WEBB, J., PILNICK, A. and CLEGG, J., 2018. 'Imagined Constructed Thought: how staff interpret the behaviour of patients with intellectual disabilities Research on Language and Social Interaction. (In Press.)
• DE KOK, B., WIDDICOMBE, S., PILNICK, A. and LAURIER, E., 2018. Doing patient-centredness versus achieving public health targets: A critical review of interactional dilemmas in ART adherence support. Social Science and Medicine. 205, 17-25
• O'BRIEN, R, GOLDBERG, SE, PILNICK, A., BEEKE, S., SCHNEIDER, J., SARTAIN, K., THOMSON, L., MURRAY, M., BAXENDALE, B. and HARWOOD, RH., 2018. The VOICE study – A before and after study of a dementia communication skills training course PLOS ONE.
• PILNICK, ALISON, TRUSSON, DIANE, BEEKE, SUZANNE, O'BRIEN, REBECCA, GOLDBERG, SARAH and HARWOOD, ROWAN H., 2018. Using conversation analysis to inform role play and simulated interaction in communications skills training for healthcare professionals: identifying avenues for further development through a scoping review BMC MEDICAL EDUCATION. 18,
• HARWOOD. R.H., O'BRIEN, R., GOLDBERG, S., ALLWOOD, R., PILNICK, A., BEEKE, S., THOMSON, L., MURRAY, M., PARRY, R., KEARNEY, F., BAXENDALE, B. and SARTAIN, K., 2018. A staff training intervention to improve communication between people living with dementia and health-care professionals in hospital: the VOICE mixed-methods development and evaluation study Health Services and Delivery Research. 6(41), 1-166
• TRUSSON, D. and PILNICK, A., 2017. Between stigma and pink positivity: Women's perceptions of social interactions during and after breast cancer treatment. Sociology of Health and Illness. 39(3), 458-473
• ALLWOOD, R., PILNICK, A., O'BRIEN, R., GOLDBERG, S., HARWOOD, R. and BEEKE, S., 2017. Should I stay or should I go? How healthcare professionals close encounters with people with dementia in the acute hospital setting. Social Science and Medicine. 191, 212-225
• TRUSSON, D. and PILNICK, A., 2016. The role of hair loss in cancer identity: Perceptions of chemotherapy-induced alopecia amongst women treated for early stage breast cancer or DCIS Cancer Nursing. (In Press.)
• PILNICK, A. and ZAYTS, O., 2016. Advice, authority and autonomy in Shared Decision Making in antenatal screening: the importance of context Sociology of Health and Illness. 38(3), 343-59
• JAMES, DEBORAH MICHELLE, PILNICK, ALISON, HALL, ALEX and COLLINS, LUKE, 2016. Participants' use of enacted scenes in research interviews: A method for reflexive analysis in health and social care SOCIAL SCIENCE & MEDICINE. 151, 38-45
• TRUSSON, DIANE, PILNICK, ALISON and ROY, SRILA, 2016. A new normal?: Women's experiences of biographical disruption and liminality following treatment for early stage breast cancer SOCIAL SCIENCE & MEDICINE. 151, 121-129
• HOLLIN, GJS and PILNICK, A., 2015. Infancy, autism and the emergence of a socially disordered body Social Science and Medicine. 143, 297-286
• ZAYTS. O. and PILNICK, A., 2014. Genetic counselling in multicultural and multilingual contexts.. In: HAMILTON, H. and CHOU, S., eds., Routledge Handbook of Language and Health Communication. Routledge.
• PILNICK, A and ZAYTS. O., 2014. "“It’s just a likelihood”: uncertainty as topic and resource in conveying ‘positive’ results in an antenatal screening clinic". Symbolic Interaction. 37(2), 187-208
• SCHOEB, V., STAFFONI, L., PARRY, R. and PILNICK, A., 2014. "What do you expect from physiotherapy?": A detailed analysis of goal setting in physiotherapy. Disability and Rehabilitation. 36(20), 1679-86
• WEBB, J., CLEGG, J. and PILNICK, A., 2014. Changing the way that staff interact with people who have challenging behaviour Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disability. 27(4),
• PILNICK, A., 2013. The practitioner-client relationship. In: GABE, J. and MONAGHAN, L., eds., Key Concepts in Medical Sociology Wiley-Blackwell.
• PILNICK, A., 2013. Conversation Analysis. In: COCKERHAM, W., DINGWALL, R. and QUAH, S., eds., The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Health, Illness, Behavior, and Society. Wiley-Blackwell..
• S. EVERITT, A. PILNICK, J. WARING and M. COBB, 2013. The structure of the small animal consultation Journal of Small Animal Practice. 54(9), 453-458
• PILNICK, A., 2013. Sociology Without Frontiers?: On the Pleasures and Perils of Interdisciplinary Research Sociological Research Online. 18(3),
• PILNICK, A and JAMES, D., 2013. "I'm thrilled that you see that": Seeing success in interactions with children with deafness and autistic spectrum disorder Social Science and Medicine. 99 (December), 89-101
• PILNICK, A. and ZAYTS, O., 2012. 'Let's have it tested first': choice and circumstances in decision-making following positive antenatal screening in Hong Kong Sociology of Health and Illness. 34(2), 266-282
• PILNICK, A., CLEGG, J., MURPHY, E and ALMACK, K., 2011. 'Just being selfish for my own sake ...': balancing the views of young adults with intellectual disabilities and their carers in transition planning The Sociological Review. 59(2), 303-323
• GREENHILL, N., ANDERSON, C., AVERY, A. and PILNICK, A., 2011. Analysis of pharmacist-patient communication using the Calgary-Cambridge guide Patient Education and Counseling. 83(3), 423-431
• PILNICK, A. and SWIFT, J.A., 2011. Qualitative research in nutrition and dietetics: assessing quality Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics. 24(3), 209-214
• EDGLEY, A and PILNICK, A. & CLARK, M., 2011. 'The air still wasn't good ... everywhere I went I was surrounded': Lay perceptions of air quality and health Health Sociology Review. (In Press.)
• PILNICK, ALISON and DINGWALL, ROBERT, 2011. On the remarkable persistence of asymmetry in doctor/patient interaction: a critical review. Social science & medicine (1982). 72(8), 1374-82
• PILNICK, A., CLEGG, J., MURPHY, E. and ALMACK, K., 2010. Questioning the answer: questioning style, choice and self-determination in interactions with young people with intellectual disabilities Sociology of Health & Illness. 32(3), 415-436
• PILNICK, A. AND COLEMAN, T., 2010. "Do your best for me":-the difficulties of finding a clinically effective endpoint in smoking cessation consultations in primary care. Health. 14(1), 57-74
• PILNICK, A. and HINDMARSH, J. AND GILL, V.T., eds., 2009. Communication in Healthcare Settings: Policy, Participation and New Technologies. Blackwell. (In Press.)
• PILNICK, A, HINDMARSH, J and GILL, V.T., 2009. Beyond doctor and patient: developments in the study of healthcare interactions Sociology of Health and Illness. 31(6), 787-802 (In Press.)
• PILNICK, A., 2008. "It's something for you both to think about": choice and decision making in nuchal translucency screening for Downs Syndrome Sociology of Health and Illness. 30(4), 511-530
• HINDMARSH, J. AND PILNICK, A., 2008. The tacit order of teamwork: collaboration and embodied conduct in anaesthesia. In: R. DINGWALL, ed., Qualitative Health Research (Fundamentals of Applied Research Series) 2: Health Professions and their work. Sage. 268-94 (In Press.)
• HINDMARSH, J. and PILNICK, A., 2007. Knowing Bodies at Work: Embodiment and Ephemeral Teamwork in Anaesthesia ORGANIZATION STUDIES. VOL 28(ISSU 9), 1395-1416
• PILNICK, A. and COLEMAN, T., 2006. Death, depression and `defensive expansion': Closing down smoking as an issue for discussion in GP consultations Social Science & Medicine. VOL 62(NUMBER 10), 2500-2512
• ALLEN D AND PILNICK A, 2005. Making connections: A case study in the social organisation of healthcare work Sociology of Health and Illness. 27(6), 683-700
• ALLEN, D. and PILNICK, A., eds., 2005. The Social Organisation of Healthcare Work Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, New York.
• PILNICK, A., 2005. "Why didn't you just say that?" Dealing with issues of knowledge, competence and asymmetry in the pharmacist/client interaction. In: Medical Care, Medical Work and Medical Knowledge: A reader in the sociology of health and illness Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, New York.
• PILNICK, A., 2004. 'It's just one of the best tests that we've got at the moment': the presentation of nuchal translucency screening for fetal abnormality in pregnancy Discourse and Society. 15(4), 451-465
• PILNICK, A.M, FRASER, D.M and JAMES, D.K, 2004. Presenting and discussing nuchal translucency screening for fetal abnormality in the UK. Midwifery. 20(1), 82-93
• PILNICK, ALISON and COLEMAN, TIM, 2003. "I'll give up smoking when you get me better": patients' resistance to attempts to problematise smoking in general practice (GP) consultations. Social Science & Medicine. 57(1), 135-45
• PILNICK, A., 2003. "Patient counselling" by pharmacists: four approaches to the delivery of counselling sequences and their interactional reception Social Science & Medicine. VOL 56(NUMBER 4), 835-849
• PILNICK, A., 2002. `There are no rights and wrongs in these situations': identifying interactional difficulties in genetic counselling Sociology of Health & Illness. 24(1), 66-88
• HINDMARSH, J. and PILNICK, A., 2002. The tacit order of teamwork: collaboration and embodied conduct in anesthesia Sociological Quarterly. 43(2), 139-164
• PILNICK, A., 2002. Genetics and society : an introduction / Alison Pilnick Buckingham ; Philadelphia : Open University Press, 2002.
• PILNICK, A., 2002. What `most people' do: exploring the ethical implications of genetic counselling New Genetics and Society. VOL 21(NUMB 3), 339-350
• PILNICK, A., DINGWALL, R. and STARKEY, K., 2001. Disease management: definitions, difficulties and future directions Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 79(8), 755-763
• PILNICK, A., 2001. The interactional organization of pharmacist consultations in a hospital setting: a putative structure Journal of Pragmatics. 33(12), 1927-1945
• PILNICK, A. and DINGWALL, R., 2001. Research directions in genetic counselling: a review of the literature Patient Education and Counseling. 44(2), 95-105
• PILNICK, A., 1999. "Patient Counseling" by Pharmacists: Advice, Information, or Instruction? Sociological Quarterly. VOL 40(NUMBER 4), 613-622
• PILNICK, A., 1999. "When You Wake Up it'll All be Over": Communication in the Anaesthetic Room Symbolic Interaction. VOL 22(NUMBER 4), 345-360
• PILNICK, A., 1998. 'Why didn't you say just that?' Dealing with issues of asymmetry, knowledge and competence in the pharmacist/client encounter Sociology of Health and Illness. VOL 20(NUMBER 1), 29-51
• PILNICK, A., 1998. Advice giving in community pharmacies: a response concerning methods for future research Journal of Health Services Research and Policy. VOL 3(NUMBER 2), 97-99