Editorial to special section: Examining question use in clinical contexts with children and youth

The delivery of health services relies heavily on clinical practitioners interacting with their patients or clients. Much of this institutional business relies on information yielded through question-response sequences. Because of this, the design of the question and the role of the practitioner are central in the progressivity and outcomes of the health event. Despite their ubiquity in health settings and the heavy reliance on questions in such interactions, the evidence-base which examines the nuances and details of question design and delivery is relatively small. This co-edited special section focuses on bringing together state-of-the-art scholarship on the interactional function(s) of questions in clinical contexts involving child and adult clients. Sacks argued that studying questions is critical, as they illuminate imperative information about interactional rights [1]. Clearly, questions in health settings need more detailed attention to extend our knowledge and understanding in this area of health communication, especially when there are children and young people present in the interaction.