Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 5, 2026

Using Visual and Narrative Methods to Achieve Fair Process in Clinical Care
Published on: February 16, 2011
Why are sicker patients less satisfied with their medical care? Tests of two explanatory models
J A Hall1, M A Milburn, D L Roter
1Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. hall1@neu.edu
Abstract:
Two explanations were tested for why patients who are less healthy tend to be less satisfied with their medical care than healthier patients. The explanations were (a) that poor health produces dissatisfaction directly and (b) that poor health produces dissatisfaction through the mediating effect of physicians' behavior. Two studies are presented that measured patients' health status, patients' satisfaction with care, and their physicians' communication as recorded on audiotape. In Study 1, 114 patients had first visits with rheumatologists; in Study 2, 649 patients had continuing-care visits with physicians in internal and family medicine. Causal modeling revealed that the first study supported the direct explanation. The second study also supported the direct explanation, as well as the mediation explanation with respect to the physician's use of social conversation.
Related Concept Videos
Self-Discrepancy Theory
Concepts of Health and Illness
Models of Health Promotion and Illness Prevention I
The health belief model (HBM) attempts to predict health-related behavior in specific belief patterns. According to the HBM, a person's...
Models of Health Promotion and Illness Prevention II
The agent-host-environment model states that disease results from...
Methods of Documentation VI: Case Management Model
For example, a patient with a chronic illness...
Theory of Attribution II: Kelley's Covariation Theory
