Lauren Bridgstock

Dr Lauren Bridgstock is an FSHI Mildred Blaxter Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University. She specialises in conversation analysis and healthcare communication, and completed her PhD in Sociology at the University of Nottingham with an ESRC DTP Collaborative Studentship for the project “Is 'elderspeak' always inappropriate? An empirical investigation of the use of elderspeak in dementia care.”
Her research focuses on interaction in dementia care, particularly in acute hospital settings, drawing on detailed analysis of naturally occurring encounters between patients and healthcare staff. She has examined practices associated with “elderspeak” — including the use of praise and terms of endearment — showing how these forms of communication can be supportive in some contexts, but also risk conversational trouble in others.
More broadly, her work explores how communication practices shape care, contributing to debates around person‑centred care and the role of language in clinical practice. She is also involved in research on simulation and AI in healthcare communication training.