The Physician-Patient Relationship and Its Association with Self-Efficacy in Female Patients Managing Chronic Diseases in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Evidence has shown that the physician-patient relationship may affect patients in several dimensions, particularly in patients' self-efficacy in managing chronic disease. This cross-sectional study assessed the association of the perceived physicianpatient relationship on perceived self-efficacy in self-managing chronic disease in 253 female patients aged 18-55 years from six primary care clinics in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The data were collected using two standard questionnaires (PDRQ-9 and SEMCD) and analysis was performed using the Kruskal-Wallis test (SPSS Software). Our findings showed that overall the patients perceived the physician-patient relationship as somewhat satisfactory. Participants' self-efficacy in managing their chronic diseases was also shown to be moderate. The association between the physician-patient relationship and patient self-efficacy in self-managing chronic diseases was found to be statistically significant (p=0.047). The group of patients with high satisfaction with the physician-patient relationship (HSG) was found to have statistically significant higher self-efficacy compared to the group with low satisfaction (LSG) (p=0.014). These findings suggest that strengthening the physician-patient relationship can be an important element towards enhancing patients' self-efficacy in order to further improve the self-management and health of patients with chronic diseases in Saudi Arabia.