Impact of Racial Bias on Providers' Empathic Communication Behaviors with Women of Color in Postpartum Checkup

Racial bias in healthcare settings can manifest as biased communication, discriminatory treatment, lower quality of care, and a lack of empathy toward women of color [WoC; Nong et al. in JAMA Netw Open 3:e2029650-e2029650, 1; McLemore et al. in Soc Sci Med 201:127-135, 2; Hagiwara et al. in Patient Educ Couns 102:1738-1743, 3]. Despite a large body of research on racial bias, more research is needed to understand how bias translates into specific communication behaviors to develop interventions that reduce racial mistreatment in communication with WoC (Hagiwara et al. in Patient Educ Couns 102:1738-1743, 3). This study contributes to the existing research by exploring the impact of colorblind racial ideology (i.e., the denial and minimization of racism) and ethnocultural empathy (i.e., the ability to understand and relate to others from different ethnic or cultural groups) on health providers' observed empathic communication behaviors.

Providers were recruited through US hospital listservs. Inclusion criteria required that participants work in the field of maternal health. A total of 65 healthcare providers completed a survey, which included measures of colorblindness and ethnocultural empathy, and simulated interaction over HIPAA Zoom with trained actors playing patients. Participants were randomly assigned to administer the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale to a Black, Asian, or White patient in a simulated postpartum 4-week checkup.

Path analyses were conducted using Mplus. Findings indicated that colorblind racial ideology and ethnocultural empathy were associated with racially biased reasoning, which in turn was related to a lack of providers' empathic communication behaviors.

Study findings suggest racial bias can lead to less empathic patient-provider communication interaction and support changes aimed at both reducing racial bias and increasing empathic interaction.