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Quality of doctor–patient communication through the eyes of the patient: variation according to the patient’s educational level

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Abstract

Good doctor–patient communication may lead to better compliance, higher patient satisfaction, and finally, better health. Although the social variance in how physicians and patients communicate is clearly demonstrated, little is known about what patients with different educational attainments actually prefer in doctor–patient communication. In this study we describe patients’ perspective in doctor–patient communication according to their educational level, and to what extent these perspectives lean towards the expert opinion on doctor–patient communication. In a multi-center study (Belgium, The Netherlands, UK and Italy), focus group discussions were organised using videotaped medical consultations. A mixed methods approach was used to analyse the data. Firstly, a difference in perspective in communication style was found between the lower educated participants versus the middle and higher educated participants. Secondly, lower educated participants referred positively most to aspects related to the affective/emotional area of the medical consultation, followed by the task-oriented/problem-focused area. Middle and higher educated participants positively referred most to the task-oriented/problem-focused area. The competency of the physician was an important category of communication for all participants, independent of social background. The results indicate that the preferences of lower educated participants lean more towards the expert opinion in doctor–patient communication than the middle and higher educated participants. Patients’ educational level seems to influence their perspective on communication style and should be taken into account by physicians. Further quantitative research is needed to confirm these results.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all the participants for their significant contribution to the study. Also, we would like to thank the other members of the GULiVER study, as well as the moderators of the focus groups for their committed participation in the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Department of Family Medicine and Primary Health Care, Ghent University Hospital – 6K3, De Pintelaan 185, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Karolien Aelbrecht, Sara Willems & Myriam Deveugele

  2. Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Verona, Verona, Italy

    Michela Rimondini, Francesca Moretti & Mariangela Mazzi

  3. Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research, NIVEL, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Jozien Bensing

  4. Faculty of Social Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Jozien Bensing

  5. Health Sciences Research, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK

    Ian Fletcher

Authors
  1. Karolien Aelbrecht
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  2. Michela Rimondini
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  3. Jozien Bensing
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  4. Francesca Moretti
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  5. Sara Willems
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  6. Mariangela Mazzi
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  7. Ian Fletcher
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  8. Myriam Deveugele
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Karolien Aelbrecht.

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 1 and 2.

Table 1 Number of times participants referred to each of the categories and subcategories in doctor–patient communication (according to educational level)
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Table 2 Sample characteristics
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Aelbrecht, K., Rimondini, M., Bensing, J. et al. Quality of doctor–patient communication through the eyes of the patient: variation according to the patient’s educational level. Adv in Health Sci Educ 20, 873–884 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-014-9569-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-014-9569-6

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