Medical Consultation Experience Questionnaire: Assessing perceived alliance and experienced confusion during medical consultations.

Abstract

The Medical Consultation Experience Questionnaire (MCEQ) is a new, brief self-report instrument that can be used with both adult patients and parents of child patients to assess two dimensions of people's experiences interacting with medical practitioners: Alliance and Confusion. In contrast with existing measures, the MCEQ was expected to provide good discrimination across a full range of experience levels and to assess two distinct dimensions of experience with good factor validity. It was developed in a series of 7 preliminary studies (with 758 participants) and tested in 3 subsequent validation studies, which are the focus of the present report. Study 1 was an Internet sample of 199 parents of child patients, Study 2 was a hospital sample of 173 parents of child surgery patients, and Study 3 was an Internet sample of 204 adult patients. A confirmatory factor analysis specifying strict measurement invariance across the 3 groups produced a good fit. An item response theory analysis suggested that scales on the MCEQ provide good discrimination across a wide range of experience levels. The new scales measuring Alliance and Confusion each had a distinct pattern of convergent validity associations with criterion variables regarding alternate measures of consultation experience, treatment context, and patient-reported perception, behavior, and affect. Results support the validity of the MCEQ and suggest that Alliance and Confusion are two distinct and informative dimensions of medical consultation experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Treatment Adherence Perception Questionnaire: Assessing patient perceptions regarding their adherence to medical treatment plans.

“…Moreover, the results indicated that the two attitudes each had unique associations with aspects of practitioner–patient relationships, including perceived alliance with practitioners and experienced confusion during consultation. This is consistent with previous research suggesting that practitioner–patient relationships are consequential (Sanford et al, 2018) and it raises a possibility that these relationships are consequential largely because they can influence patient attitudes. Taken together, these results advance theoretical models that emphasize the role of attitudes, demonstrate a clear distinction between attitudes of perceived benefit and perceived burden, and identify ways in which these attitudes may be especially important.…”

“…Perceived alliance and experienced confusion. Alliance and confusion during a recent medical appointment were assessed using the Medical Consultation Experience Questionnaire (Sanford et al, 2018). Alliance was measured by seven items: four positively scored items (e.g., "Compared to a typical practitioner, how much did you feel like this practitioner liked you?")…”

“…Alliance and confusion during a recent medical appointment were assessed using the Medical Consultation Experience Questionnaire (Sanford et al, 2018). Alliance was measured by seven items: four positively scored items (e.g., “Compared to a typical practitioner, how much did you feel like this practitioner liked you?”) and three reverse-scored detachment items (e.g., “Did you feel like the practitioner was in too much of a hurry to take time to listen to you?”).…”

“…Health-care professionals are responsible for communicating with patients about treatment plans; therefore, they have the potential to be an important influence on patient attitudes toward those treatment plans, and in this way, they may play a key role in influencing treatment adherence. Sanford, Rivers, Braun, Schultz, and Buchanan (2018) identified two dimensions of patient–practitioner relationships that may be especially salient: the extent to which the patient experiences an alliance with the practitioner and the extent to which a patient is confused by medical information received from a practitioner. Presumably, perceived benefit will be high when a patient has a strong alliance with a practitioner and clearly understands the rationale for the treatment recommended by the practitioner (high alliance, low confusion).…”

The Medical Mistrust Multiformat Scale: Links with vaccine hesitancy, treatment adherence, and patient–physician relationships.

“…In Study 2, the Medical Consultation Experience Questionnaire (Sanford et al, 2018) was used to assess participants' experience of alliance and confusion in interactions with a medical practitioner.…”