Prof. Dr. Marianne Schmid Mast University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland Physician Communication Style...
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Prof. Dr. Marianne Schmid Mast University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland Style and Patient Satisfaction: The Importance of Physician Gender
Prof. Dr. Marianne Schmid Mast University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland Physician Communication Style and Patient Satisfaction: The Importance of Physician
Prof. Dr. Marianne Schmid Mast University of Neuchtel,
Switzerland Physician Communication Style and Patient Satisfaction:
The Importance of Physician Gender
Slide 2
Overview Patient satisfaction Physician gender Physician
communication style: Manipulated on emotionality and dominance
Nonverbal behavior measured Patient gender
Slide 3
Goal Investigate how the communication style of women and men
doctors affect patients (patient satisfaction)
Slide 4
Two Dimensions of Physician Communication Emotionality:
Physicians taking on the perspective of the patient and expressing
interest, concern, and empathy Dominance: Physicians control over
information and services, the visit agenda, goals, and treatment
decisions =>Patient-centered: emotionality high and dominance
low (Krupat et al., 2000)
Slide 5
Gender Difference in Communication Style Women doctors
communicate more emotionally and less dominantly than men doctors
(e.g., Roter, Hall, & Aoki, 2002)
Slide 6
Implications of Physician Style Dominance in physician
communication is related to low patient satisfaction (Buller &
Buller, 1987) Patient outcome is more positive when physicians
communicate more emotionally (Ben- Sira, 1980; Cohen-Cole, 1991;
Roter et al., 2006; Williams, Weinman, & Dale, 1998) =>High
physician emotionality and low dominance are both related to higher
patient satisfaction
Slide 7
The Paradox! No net difference in patient satisfaction with
women and men doctors (Hall, Irish, & Roter, 1994) How to
explain this paradox? Maybe the same physician communication style
adopted by a woman or man doctor affects patients differently
Slide 8
Research Question How does gender and physician communication
style (emotionality and dominance) affect patient
satisfaction?
Slide 9
The Challenge Problem: In real-world physician-patient
interactions, physician gender and physician communication style
are confounded Solution: Vary physician gender and physician
communication style independently of each other and measure patient
satisfaction How?
Slide 10
Experimental Approach Patients see a female or male doctor who
communicates either high or low on emotionality and high or low on
dominance Physician is a virtual person...
Slide 11
Method Participants: 167 students (87 women, 80 men), age =
26.5 Role play a patient: symptoms and reason for visit: Recurrent
headaches, second visit, goal: discuss lab results from last visit
and decide on treatment Interaction with virtual physician (15 min)
Questionnaires: perceived emotionality, perceived dominance,
patient satisfaction (Schmid Mast, Hall, Klckner, & Choi,
2008)
Slide 12
Man (virtual) doctor
Slide 13
Woman (virtual) doctor
Slide 14
Communication with Virtual Doctor 16 sequences (opening, data
gathering, patient education and counseling, and decision making)
Stack of 16 cards, each with hints, e.g., Your headaches have
become more severe during the past two weeks Virtual physician
talks on key command
Slide 15
Manipulation of Physician Communication Style
Slide 16
Manipulation Check Perceived physician emotionality 6 Items on
emotionality, e.g. friendly, nice Reliability: Cronbachs Alpha =.86
Physicians with a high emotional communication style were perceived
as more emotional than physicians with a low emotional
communication style, t(164) = 4.65, p
