title: Physicians' perceptions and responses to patient emotion: implications for social work practice in health care.
abstract: Physicians serve a pivotal role in today's health systems, as they are often the first professional patients must contact for emotion problems. This study surveyed 225 practicing physicians to understand how they perceive patient emotion and the actions they would then take in response to these perceived emotions. In reply to nondescript "emotion complaints" from a patient vignette, these physicians perceived the patient as experiencing anxiety, followed by fear, anger and sadness. Physicians had distinct preferences for psychosocial oriented responses (e.g., explore, reassure, and rationalize) and were least likely to avoid, distract, and ignore. Overall, anxiety and fear generated the greatest number of possible responses from physicians, anger and sadness the fewest.
authors.affiliation: College of Social Work, University of Tennessee-Memphis 38163, USA.
authors.forename: V A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: DeCoster
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Egan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000786:Anger; D001007:Anxiety; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003142:Communication; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003625:Data Collection; D003863:Depression; D004644:Emotions; D005239:Fear; D006694:Holistic Health; D006801:Humans; D005791:Patient Care / Q000523:psychology*; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012949:Social Work, Psychiatric; D013714:Tennessee; D014505:Urban Population