'That's exactly what I will share with you today!' Negotiation for a ticket of entry to unsolicited health education talks

Previous studies in health communication demonstrated how clients' mention of health-related problems serves as a 'ticket of entry' (ToE) in facilitating healthcare providers' advice-giving task. Based on 24 Taiwanese health education sessions in which Taiwanese college students delivered information to elderly people, this study proposes a framework analyzing discourse mechanisms and patterns of establishing ToE. Two core moves were identified: deliverers' use of perspective-checking questions via which recipients' need status for knowledge is revealed, and explicit statements that connect this need status to the upcoming information. Based on the low occurrence of ToE and its preferred collocation with a series of perspective-checking questions, we conclude that the establishment of ToE is a nuanced communication skill that warrants extensive pedagogical training.