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- Title
Differences in Physician Communication When Patients Ask Versus Tell About Religion/Spirituality: A Pilot Study.
- Authors
Ledford, Christy J. W.; Canzona, Mollie R.; Seehusen, Dean A.; Cafferty, Lauren A.; Schmidt, Monica E.; Huang, Joseph C.; Villagran, Melinda M.
- Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Research suggests that physicians should pursue spiritual issues and that patients desire to discuss religion/spirituality (R/S) in medical encounters. This study explored the differences in physician communication in response to patient inquiry or disclosure of R/S and hypothesizes that physician communication will differ when patients disclose R/S as contrasted to inquire about R/S. METHODS: Family physicians and family medicine resident physicians were recruited from a family medicine department at a community hospital (n=27). An objective structured clinical examination, with a standardized patient encounter, was used to expose the participants to a conversation regarding R/S. Participants were assigned, by alternating clustered assignment, to two conditions: patient disclosure of R/S or patient inquiry about physician R/S. The primary outcome measure was physician response, specifically physiciancontrol, partnership-building, and supportive-talk messages. RESULTS: When the patient asks questions about R/S, physicians communicate more control messages and less supportive talk messages than when the patient discloses information about R/S. CONCLUSIONS: Training physicians to anticipate and respond to patient disclosure and inquiry will increase the likelihood they can enact patientcentered strategies. These methods should focus on teaching residents how to be sensitive to the R/S context of their patients and to recognize their own intuitive reactions to patient communication in that context.
- Publication
Family Medicine, 2015, Vol 47, Issue 2, p138
- ISSN
0742-3225
- Publication type
Article