Breast cancer patients self-participation depends on length of consultation.

2004 MAY 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Study finds that patient-physician communication interactions can be evaluated by perceptual and behavioral measures.

"This study examines correlations between observable communicative behaviors and patient perceptions of patient-physician interaction in 86 breast cancer outpatient consultations from 3 patient-centered perspectives: patient participation, physician collaboration, and communicative success," scientists in Japan report.

"Analysis relied on audiotape recordings and questionnaires, and incorporated nonbehavioral factors particular to each physician, patient, and consultation. Results revealed that patient perceptions of self-participation depended on the length of consultation," wrote T. Takayama and colleagues, University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Medicine.

"Physician collaboration depended on the degree to which patients were given the opportunity to speak, while communicative success reflected a patients level of anxiety at the time of the consultation. Yet patient perceptions of mutual participation reflected observable communicative behaviors only partially," the ...