Patient symptom exaggeration is associated with communication effectiveness and trust

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Patient-Provider Communication
• Medical Sociology

Background:

• Patients may exaggerate symptoms to align with clinician perceptions.
• Symptom exaggeration can negatively affect patient trust, communication, and satisfaction.
• Understanding the link between symptom exaggeration and patient experience is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between patient-reported symptom exaggeration and their ratings of communication effectiveness.
• To explore the relationship between symptom exaggeration and patient satisfaction with their clinician.
• To examine the connection between symptom exaggeration and patient trust in their physician.

Main Methods:

• 132 patients from four orthopaedic offices completed validated questionnaires.
• Surveys included measures of communication effectiveness (CEQ-6), trust, satisfaction, and symptom exaggeration.
• Patients reported on their own symptom exaggeration and the average person's tendency.

Main Results:

• Lower communication effectiveness ratings were significantly associated with greater patient symptom exaggeration (p=0.002).
• Higher patient trust was significantly associated with lower personal symptom exaggeration (p=0.002).
• Higher satisfaction ratings were linked to lower educational attainment (p=0.004).

Conclusions:

• Symptom exaggeration may signal opportunities for enhanced patient-clinician communication and trust-building.
• Clinicians should recognize symptom exaggeration as a potential indicator that patients feel unheard.
• Training clinicians to identify symptom exaggeration can improve patient experience and communication strategies.