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What do older people value when they visit their general practitioner? A qualitative study.
Ludmila Marcinowicz1, Teresa Pawlikowska2, Marek Oleszczyk3
1Department of Family Medicine and Community Nursing, Medical University of Bialystok, Mieszka I 4 B, 15 054 Białystok, Poland.
European Journal of Ageing
|November 29, 2014
Summary
Older adults value their general practitioners" (GPs) affective behaviors, like friendliness and having enough time, more than task performance. These findings highlight key areas for improving quality of care in general practice for seniors.
Area of Science:
- Gerontology
- General Practice
- Qualitative Research
Background:
- Older patients frequently interact with general practitioners (GPs).
- Recognizing patient preferences can enhance the quality of care in general practice.
- Jung's taxonomy of task and affective behaviors provides a framework for analyzing GP-patient interactions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify key aspects of GP behavior important to older patients' quality of care assessments.
- To explore the application of Jung's taxonomy (task vs. affective behaviors) in this context.
Main Methods:
- Qualitative study design.
- Semi-structured interviews conducted with 30 patients aged 65 and older.
- Participants were selected from two diverse major cities in Poland.
Main Results:
- Older patients evaluate both task performance and affective performance of GPs.
- Affective performance behaviors received nearly twice as many comments as task performance behaviors.
- Key expectations include GPs being friendly, kind, able to joke, and allocating sufficient consultation time.
Conclusions:
- Affective behaviors are paramount in older adults' assessment of GP quality of care.
- General practice quality improvement for older populations should prioritize enhancing physicians' affective conduct.
- The study underscores the significance of interpersonal skills in geriatric primary care.
