Primary Health Care Consumers' Acceptance, Trust and Gender Preferences towards Omani Doctors

The percentage of Omani physicians from total number of physicians working in the Sultanate tripled from 9% in 1999 to 27% in 2006 and is expected to increase to 50% by 2010. The study aimed to asses community attitudes towards Omani doctors and to investigate the different socio-demographic variables related to these attitudes.

It was done in two selected Primary Health Care (PHC) facilities by simple random technique in Batinah region. Face-to-face interview was made on 305 randomly selected samples of PHC customers by trained researchers from Sultan Qaboos University (SQU). Omani Doctors Acceptance Scale (ODAS) was adapted and used to assess participants acceptance of the communication skills of the Omani doctor, care to the patient, absence of language barrier, competence level, preference to be seen by doctor from the same sex, embarrassment from seeing an Omani doctor, qualification, experience, knowledge and skills of the Omani experience of the Omani doctor, and trust on the Omani doctor. Chi squared tests of significance was used in analysis.

Males reported more satisfaction about communication skills of the Omani doctors, whereas female respondents reported higher likelihood of being embarrassed from the latter. Elder age cohort, those reported ever treated by an Omani doctor, married respondents, and those of lower level of education were more likely to report higher level of acceptance than others. Those aged 26-40 and those above 40 years of age were 2.41 and 3.41 times higher than the youngest age cohort respectively. Similarly, older age cohort reported having more trust than the middle age respondents relatively to the youngest age group.

The current study showed an accepted level of acceptance to Omani doctors. Looking for crucial issues in patient-doctor relationships as acceptance, satisfaction, trust, gender preference especially for PHC doctors ensure the continuity of care.