Using discursive approaches to examine the utility and functions of language in public health and health promotion: highlighting social constructions of e-cigarettes

Wilson, Georgia ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0518-2240, Keenan, Joseph ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8855-1776, Porcellato, Lorna, Gee, Ivan, Gough, Brendan and Grogan, Sarah (2023) Using discursive approaches to examine the utility and functions of language in public health and health promotion: highlighting social constructions of e-cigarettes. Critical Public Health, 33 (4). pp. 447-458. ISSN 0958-1596

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Abstract

This article uses discursive approaches to examine the utility and functions of language in public health, focusing on social constructions of e-cigarettes. Due to the ambiguity surrounding the use of e-cigarettes, understanding may be negotiated collaboratively through co-construction in talk. Ten participants, three men and seven women aged 26–47 years, took part in two focus groups in Manchester, UK, where they discussed e-cigarettes. Data were analysed using blended discourse analysis, with a view to identifying dominant repertoires used by speakers. Participants drew from two discursive frameworks to communicate perceptions of e-cigarettes: (1) uncertainty and risk and (2) the social acceptability and stigma spectrum. The ambiguity surrounding e-cigarettes was reflected in the linguistic devices used in talk. This article demonstrates the value of drawing on discourse analysis to better understand the impact of health-related communication by providing insight into how existing messages are interpreted, co-constructed, and assigned meaning through shared interactions.