RESEARCH - Patients' preferences for decision making and the feeling of being understood in the medical encounter

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Arthritis Rheum. 2006 Nov 30;55(6):878-883 [Epub ahead of print]

Patients' preferences for decision making and the feeling of being

understood in the medical encounter among patients with rheumatoid

arthritis.

Ishikawa H, Hashimoto H, Yano E.

Teikyo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.

OBJECTIVE: To examine how patients' preferences for decision making in the

medical encounter affect the association between their participation style

and the feeling of being understood by the physician. METHODS: The study

group comprised 115 patients with rheumatoid arthritis who were under

continuous care by 8 rheumatologists at a university-affiliated rheumatology

clinic in Tokyo, Japan. A questionnaire was distributed just after each

encounter, in which patients' self-reported participation in communication

during the visit, preference for decision making, and the feeling of being

understood were measured. The feeling of being understood was regressed on

the participation style and preference for decision making after controlling

for demographic and functional variables. RESULTS: Patient participation in

visit communication was positively associated with the feeling of being

understood. This relationship was moderated by patients' preference for

decision making. Patients with higher preference for decision making were

more likely to feel understood when they more actively participated in visit

communication, whereas this relationship was weaker among those with lower

preference for decision making.

CONCLUSION: Inviting patients to participate in visit communication may not

always enhance the feeling of being understood by the physician when

patients have less preference for autonomous decision making in the

relationship with the physician. Exploring patients' preferences in the

relationship would help physicians understand what the patient expects from

visit communication and tailor their practice style to meet patients' needs.

PMID: 17139664

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve & db=PubMed & list_uids=1\

7139664 & dopt=Abstract

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