The effects of psychological research on the continuity of the patient-physician relationship in a primary care health maintenance organization setting.
This project was designed to explore the impact of sensitive psychological research on the continuity of the relationship between the patient and the physician researcher in a primary care health maintenance organization setting. Subjects were 134 women who participated in a sensitive psychological research project that was conducted by a female family physician researcher. Subjects were matched by height and weight, length of the study interval, and type of medical service with 127 female controls who were seen by a male family physician during the same period in the same health maintenance facility. Participants were compared for patient-initiated changes in primary care physicians during equalized follow-up periods. No significant differences between subjects and controls were found. These results suggest that sensitive psychological research does not appear to deter patients who are research participants from continuing their professional relationship with the physician researcher.
Sansone
R A
RA
Department of Psychiatry, University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, Tulsa.
Sansone
L A
LA
Gastorf
J W
JW
D000328:Adult; D035841:Behavioral Research; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D006279:Health Maintenance Organizations; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011584:Psychology; D012106:Research; D035842:Research Subjects; D035844:Researcher-Subject Relations