How does patient provider communication affect patients' risk perception? A scenario experiment and an exploratory investigation

Abstract

Aim: The aim of the study was to examine whether patient-provider communication interacts with treatment outcomes to influence patients' risk perception. Background: Medical uncertainties and risks are among the most serious problems faced by patients. This is exacerbated by communication failure in patient-provider relationships and poor treatment outcomes. However, we do not know how communication and treatment outcomes shape patients' risk perception and concern about uncertainty. Design: The study is a two-by-two between-subjects design. Methods: Two studies were conducted and data were collected in 2019. Each study used a different research design and different samples: Study 1 used a scenario experiment with 120 undergraduate students; and Study 2 surveyed 200 inpatients in clinical settings. Results: The convergent results found a significant interaction between patientprovider communication and treatment outcome on the perception of medical risks among the participants. Conclusion: Patient-provider communication interacts with treatment outcome to influence patients' perceived risk about uncertainties for healthcare. Clinicians and nurses should be aware of the effects of patient-provider communication on patients' risk perception in their concerns about the uncertainties of treatment and pay much more attention to good healthcare relationship building in addition to the improvement of objective treatment outcome.

Pathways to ovarian cancer diagnosis: a qualitative study

“…Narratives of patient experiences can inform patient-provider communication interventions by providing references for terminology commonly used and understood by patients. Additionally, prior studies have reported that the way a provider communicates modifies the patient’s perception of risk [ 46 ]. In our study, patients noted that reassurance from a provider that a condition was benign led to normalization of symptoms and reduced help-seeking behavior.…”

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“…Literature examining social media in various surgical procedures advocates incorporating educational content into provider social media posts 22,23 . This could assuage such issues surrounding patient education through digestible and accessible material sourced directly from the health care team.…”

Effect of patient‐provider communication on patient risk awareness: The moderating role of trust based on scenario experiment

“…In order to better meet the situation of this study, the “individual” in the original scale was changed to the “medical staff.” Some items have been adjusted accordingly. “Most people, even those who are not close friends of this individual, trust and respect him/her as a coworker” was changed to “in the situational materials.” “Other work associates of mine who must interact with this individual consideration him/her to be trustworthy” was changed to “In the clinical materials, medical staff trust each other.” It has been debugged in other studies (Sun et al, 2020; Wei et al, 2020; X. N. Wu et al, 2016; X. N. Wu & Wu, 2015), two of which are in the medical environment. Cronbach's α coefficients of the revised Affective Trust subscale and Cognitive Trust subscale were .86 and .95, respectively.…”

“…According to the risk measurement model, people's attitude to risk does not depend on the actual disaster degree of risk but on the degree of risk perception and acceptability (Cropanzano et al, 2008; Wildavsky & Dake, 1990). In the medical field, patients' acceptance of medical risk was defined as patients' (patient/family members/related persons) acceptance of something that may occur in the course of disease diagnosis and treatment (Sun et al, 2020; Wei et al, 2020). This acceptance of individual risk emphasizes that the acceptance is according to visual judgment and subjective perception with the effect of experience on cognition.…”

“…"Other work associates of mine who must interact with this individual consideration him/her to be trustworthy" was changed to "In the clinical materials, medical staff trust each other." It has been debugged in other studies (Sun et al, 2020;Wei et al, 2020…”