Situational trust and co-operative partnerships between physicians and their patients: a theoretical explanation transferable from business practice.
A model to explain interpersonal trust development, and its consequences for co-operative behaviour in doctor/patient partnerships derived from the context of business relationships is applied to patient/physician relationships. Threshold barriers exist against all human behaviours or actions and trust is the process by which barriers to co-operation and compliance are overcome. Dispositional trust (a psychological trait to be trusting) is dominant in the early stages of a relationship and contributes to the weight of subsequent trust development. Co-operative behaviour or compliance ultimately requires a secure situational trust emerging from consultations, which is carried forward as learnt trust and modified in each subsequent consultation. The model comprises three types of situational trust (calculus-based, knowledge-based, and identification trust) and five co-operation criteria from which to determine an individual's tendency for co- operative behaviour. These model components can be identified and mapped from a range of qualitative data, with the aim of enhancing co-operative behaviour and efficiently achieving optimal patient compliance.
Dibben
M R
MR
Department of Management Studies, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK.
Morris
S E
SE
Lean
M E
ME
D002983:Clinical Competence; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D018803:Models, Economic; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012649:Self Concept