How breast cancer outpatients perceive mutual participation in patient-physician interactions

This study examines correlations between observable communicative behaviors and patient perceptions of patient-physician interaction in 86 breast cancer outpatient consultations from three patient-centered perspectives: patient participation, physician collaboration, and communicative success. Analysis relied on audio tape recordings and questionnaires, and incorporated non-behavioral factors particular to each physician, patient, and consultation. Results revealed that patient perceptions of self-participation depended on the length of consultation. Physician collaboration depended on the degree to which patients were given the opportunity to speak, while communicative success reflected a patient's level of anxiety at the time of the consultation. Yet patient perceptions of mutual participation reflected observable communicative behaviors only partially. This gap suggests that perceptual and behavioral measures reveal different aspects of participation and that the study of patient-physician interaction benefits from the inclusion of both kinds of measure.