W12 Patients & doctors

Question 1

health related behaviour -

Answer 1

a wide variety of behaviours concerned with aspects of health and illness

Question 2

health related behaviour examples (4):

Answer 2

• daily behaviours with health implications (diet)
• preventive behaviours (attending dental check ups, screenings)
• risk avoidance (giving up smoking, limiting alcohol consumption)
• specific behaviours in relation to symptoms and illnesses (self-medication, seeking medical help, adhering to medical advice)

Question 3

Health related behaviors vary from person to person. Possible explanations?

Answer 3

• biological : more severe symptoms => seeking help (not supported)
• past experiences: negative experiences yield less attendance
• health attitudes
• differencies b/w doctors

Question 4

Health beliefs influencing health behavours, examples (5):

Answer 4

• the degree of interest in and concern with health
• the belief of one’s susceptibility to a particular illness
• beliefs about the severity of particular illness
• beliefs about the benefits and costs of a particular health action
• beliefs about the efficacy of a particular health action

Question 5

doctors are divided into two major categories:

Answer 5

• Those who are primarily concerned with technical aspects of illness.
• Those who are interested in psychosocial aspects of illness.

Question 6

how differences between doctors develop:

Answer 6

a combination of individual personality characteristics which are either developed or supressed in medical school and subsequently during training

Question 7

Communication and its effects: Complains from Patient’s Perspective (5):

Answer 7

• Lack of information (patients complain that they are not given enough info by doctors)

• Communication gap of compliance (information which passes to and from the patient but which is either not understood or understood in a different way by the doctor and the patient)

• Usage of technical jargon by doctors (patients may be flattered by the fact that high technical language is used but fail to understand and will not ask for further clarification out of fear that the doctor might think of them as being stupid) => low copmliance

• Poor recall (may be due to the complexity of language used)

• Low Empathy

• Activity/Passivity

Question 8

Communication and its effects: Comments from Doctor’s Perspective (2):

Answer 8

• Low compliance
• Poor information

These problems are caused by communication gap, usage of technical jargon. Failure to understand the doctor’s advice leads to reliance on the patient’s perception of severity of illness.

Question 9

Good communication between doctor and patient often leads to:

Answer 9

high opinion of doctor and therefore high compliance

Question 10

Patient Interviewing Guidelines (5):

Answer 10

• Opening the Interview
• Encouraging and prompting the patient
• Support and reassurance
• Showing empathy
• Throughout the interview there should be good non-verbal communication in the form of good eye contact, good physical distance, posture, gesture, voice, (tone rate and fluency of speech), body movement etc.