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Information-giving in medical consultations: The influence of patients' communicative styles and personal characteristics

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  • Street, Richard L.

Abstract

Informing the patient is arguably the physician's most important communicative responsibility. Recognizing this researchers have long been interested in the question of why some patients receive more information from physicians than do others. In this paper, it is argued that the amount of information physicians provide patients during medical consultations may be influenced by two sets of factors, patients' personal characteristics (age, sex, education, and anxiety) and patients' communicative styles (question-asking, opinion-giving, and expression of concern). The analysis of audiovisual recordings of 41 physician-patient consultations in a family practice clinic revealed several notable findings: (a) information regarding diagnosis and health matters was primarily related to the patient's anxiety, education, and question-asking, (b) information regarding treatment was primarily a function of the patient's question-asking and expression of concerns, and (c) patients' assertiveness and expressiveness were strongly influenced by physicians' use of 'partnership-building' utterances that solicited the patient's questions, concerns, and opinions. The data suggest that, when attempting to explicate factors affecting physicians' informativeness, researchers must take into account features of the patients' communicative styles as well as physicians' perceptions of certain groups of patients.

Suggested Citation

  • Street, Richard L., 1991. "Information-giving in medical consultations: The influence of patients' communicative styles and personal characteristics," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 541-548, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:32:y:1991:i:5:p:541-548
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Maria E. Suarez-Almazor & Barbara Conner-Spady & Chris J. Kendall & Anthony S. Russell & Kenneth Skeith, 2001. "Lack of Congruence in the Ratings of Patients’ Health Status by Patients and Their Physicians," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 21(2), pages 113-121, April.
    2. Zandbelt, Linda C. & Smets, Ellen M.A. & Oort, Frans J. & Godfried, Mieke H. & de Haes, Hanneke C.J.M., 2006. "Determinants of physicians' patient-centred behaviour in the medical specialist encounter," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(4), pages 899-910, August.
    3. Gibson, Mark & Neil Jenkings, K. & Wilson, Rob & Purves, Ian, 2006. "Verbal prescribing in general practice consultations," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(6), pages 1684-1698, September.
    4. Tietbohl, Caroline K. & Bergen, Clara, 2022. "“I was gonna ask you”: How patients use agency framing to display engagement in primary care," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    5. Pamela L. Hudak & Richard M. Frankel & Clarence Braddock III & Rosane Nisenbaum & Paola Luca & Caitlin McKeever & Wendy Levinson, 2008. "Do Patients' Communication Behaviors Provide Insight into Their Preferences for Participation in Decision Making?," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 28(3), pages 385-393, May.
    6. Kaarboe, Oddvar & Siciliani, Luigi, 2023. "Contracts for primary and secondary care physicians and equity-efficiency trade-offs," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    7. Mandy Ryan, 1994. "Agency in Health Care: Lessons for Economists from Sociologists," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 207-217, April.
    8. Street Jr., Richard L. & Gordon, Howard & Haidet, Paul, 2007. "Physicians' communication and perceptions of patients: Is it how they look, how they talk, or is it just the doctor?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 586-598, August.
    9. Eggly, Susan & Penner, Louis A. & Greene, Meredith & Harper, Felicity W.K. & Ruckdeschel, John C. & Albrecht, Terrance L., 2006. "Information seeking during "bad news" oncology interactions: Question asking by patients and their companions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(11), pages 2974-2985, December.

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