Gender Differences in Physician-Patient Communication

Bernzweig, Jane; Takayama, John I.; Phibbs, Ciaran S.; Lewis, Catherine; Pantell, Robert H.

doi:10.1001/archpedi.1997.02170430052011

Cited by 96 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Previous studies have found that female providers have longer visits with patients and spend more time building rapport, which may offer a partial explanation for why females counsel more about obesity-related behaviors. [31][32][33] Our findings confirmed our hypothesis that providers' attitudes and beliefs are associated with the frequency of obesity-related counseling. We found a stronger relationship for providers' outcome expectations with counseling about obesity-specific topics than providers' self-efficacy for counseling about obesigenic behaviors, suggesting that outcome expectations is more predictive of reported counseling behavior.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Primary Care Providers' Self-Efficacy and Outcome Expectations for Childhood Obesity Counseling

et al. 2013

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Background: Primary care providers have a role in the prevention and management of childhood obesity. We explored the relationship of providers' self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and practice level support with childhood obesity counseling frequency.Methods: Providers (n = 123) completed a survey that assessed their self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and reported obesity counseling frequency. A practice level assessment tool was used to characterize the practices. We analyzed data using frequencies and proportional odds modeling.Results: Providers were confident or very confident (78.5-93.5%) in their ability to counsel about healthy eating, physical activity, and weight and agreed or strongly agreed (64.2-86.2%) that their counseling would result in actual changes. Providers with higher outcome expectations were more likely [odds ratio (OR) = 3.4] to report providing obesity counseling. Female providers were more likely to report counseling about obesity (OR = 2.3) than males. Providers in practices with resources for healthy eating and physical activity reported higher levels of self-efficacy and counseling frequency.Conclusions: In our study, providers were confident in their ability to provide obesity counseling and expected changes from their efforts, suggesting that future studies should build on the high level of outcome expectations as well as self-efficacy. The gender difference found regarding obesity counseling may need further exploration.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Primary Care Providers' Self-Efficacy and Outcome Expectations for Childhood Obesity Counseling

et al. 2013

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“…Fourteen studies included some measure of physicians' positive 507 talk. Six of these studies reported significantly higher levels of positive talk by female physicians (4,18,35,51,58,68). No studies reported higher levels of positive talk by male physicians and the combined p summarizing these studies was significant.…”

Section: Physicians' Positive Talkmentioning

confidence: 91%

Physician Gender and Patient-Centered Communication: A Critical Review of Empirical Research

Roter

Hall

2004

Annu. Rev. Public Health

475

312

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Key Words literature review, physician-patient communication, meta-analysis, physician-patient relationship, medical dialogue s Abstract Physician gender has stimulated a good deal of interest as a possible source of variation in the interpersonal aspects of medical practice, with speculation that female physicians are more patient-centered in their communication with patients. Our objective is to synthesize the results of two meta-analytic reviews the effects of physician gender on communication in medical visits within a communication framework that reflects patient-centeredness and the functions of the medical visit. We performed online database searches of English-language abstracts for the years 1967 to 2001 (MEDLINE, AIDSLINE, PsycINFO, and BIOETHICS), and a hand search was conducted of reprint files and the reference sections of review articles and other publications. Studies using a communication data source such as audiotape, videotape, or direct observation were identified through bibliographic and computerized searches. Medical visits with female physicians were, on average, two minutes (10%) longer than those of male physicians. During this time, female physicians engaged in significantly more communication that can be considered patient-centered. They engaged in more active partnership behaviors, positive talk, psychosocial counseling, psychosocial question asking, and emotionally focused talk. Moreover, the patients of female physicians spoke more overall, disclosed more biomedical and psychosocial information, and made more positive statements to their physicians than did the patients of male physicians. Obstetrics and gynecology may present a pattern different from that of primary care: Male physicians demonstrated higher levels of emotionally focused talk than their female colleagues. Female primary care physicians and their patients engaged in more communication that can be considered patient-centered and had longer visits than did their male colleagues. Limited studies exist outside of primary care, and gender-related practice patterns might differ in some subspecialties from those evident in primary care.

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“…Of the seven studies that found a statistically significant difference between men and women, five found that female doctors held longer visits 5,12,[17][18][19] and two showed the opposite effect, 13,20 although one of these was based on data from multiple consultations with just one male and one female doctor. 20 Ten studies were included in a random effects meta-analysis to pool the data on visit length.…”

Section: Visit Lengthmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…20 Ten studies were included in a random effects meta-analysis to pool the data on visit length. 5,[11][12][13][17][18][19][21][22][23] Four were excluded because they did not present sufficient data, 15,[24][25][26] and one was excluded because it included observations with only two doctors. 20 Across the 10 included studies, in an average, consultation, female doctors spent over 2 min more with patients compared to male doctors (coefficient 2.24, 95% CI 0.62-3.86, p ¼ 0.01) (Figure 2).…”

Section: Visit Lengthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of physicians’ gender on communication and consultation length: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Jefferson

Bloor

Birks

et al. 2013

J Health Serv Res Policy

140

102

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Objective: Physician gender may be a source of differences in communication between physicians and their patients, which may in turn contribute to patient satisfaction and other outcomes. Our aim was to review systematically research on gender differences in the length, style and content of communication with patients. Methods: Seven electronic databases were searched from inception to September 2010 with no language restrictions (included MEDLINE; PsychINFO; EMBASE; CINAHL; Health Management Information Consortium; Web of Science; and ASSIA). 'Grey' literature was also searched. Data extraction and quality assessment was carried out in accordance with Cochrane Collaboration guidelines by at least two reviewers. The review uses mainly narrative synthesis due to the heterogeneous nature of the studies, with only data on consultation length being pooled in a random effects generic inverse variance meta-analysis. Results: Searches yielded 6412 articles, of which 33 studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Studies were heterogenous and of mixed quality. Conflicting results are reported for many communication variables. There is some evidence that female physicians adopt a more partnership building style and spend on average 2.24 min longer with patients per consultation (95% CI 0.62-3.86) than their male colleagues. Conclusions: Greater patient engagement by female doctors may reflect a more patient-centred approach, but their longer consultation times will limit the number of consultations they can provide. This has implications for planning and managing services.

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Gender Differences in Physician-Patient Communication

Cited by 96 publications

References 25 publications

Primary Care Providers' Self-Efficacy and Outcome Expectations for Childhood Obesity Counseling

Primary Care Providers' Self-Efficacy and Outcome Expectations for Childhood Obesity Counseling

Physician Gender and Patient-Centered Communication: A Critical Review of Empirical Research

Effect of physicians’ gender on communication and consultation length: a systematic review and meta-analysis

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