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Initial responses of different health care professionals to various patients with headache: which are perceived as
C Paul van Wilgen1, Maaike Koning, Theo K Bouman
1Transcare, Transdisciplinary Pain Management Centre, Barkmolenstraat 196, 9723 DM, Groningen, The Netherlands, c.p.vanwilgen@online.nl.
Background:
Somatizing patients are considered a challenge to health care professionals.
Purpose:
The purpose of this study was to investigate the responses of different health care professionals' to patients with headache with different presentations.
Method:
Medical professionals (n = 77), clinical psychologists (n = 40), and psychology students (n = 115) were shown with four different manifestations of headache (neutral, somatic trauma, anxious-depressed, and severe somatizing). Health professionals rated their initial cognitive and emotional responses using a standardized questionnaire.
Results:
The severe somatizing and anxious-depressed patients with headache evoked significantly more negative cognitive and emotional responses in all three samples. Even brief exposure to a patient's story yields specific initial responses from various health care professionals irrespective of their disciplines.
Conclusion:
Patients with headache and with a distressed presentation evoke significantly more negative cognitive and emotional responses in different health care professionals. Health care professionals should be more aware of their own response to difficult patients; in this way they will be more capable of managing this patient group.
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