The effects of patient communication skills training on the discourse of older patients during a primary care interview.
OBJECTIVE
To test the effects of a communication skills training intervention on older patients' discourse during a primary care interview.


METHODS
A quasi-experimental design involving two intervention conditions.


METHODS
The Family Practice Center of a university-based clinic.


METHODS
Thirty-three patients averaging age 72 and 9 family practice physicians.


METHODS
A communication skills training booklet received approximately 3 days before the scheduled appointment and a 30-minute face-to-face follow-up session before seeing the physician.


METHODS
Patients' seeking, providing, and verifying of information were coded from transcripts of the 33 interviews.


RESULTS
Trained patients engaged in significantly more seeking and providing of information than untrained patients. Additionally, trained patients obtained significantly more information from physicians than did untrained patients, both in terms of the number of total information units and the number of units per question asked.


CONCLUSIONS
Patient communication skills training appears to be an effective means of enhancing patients' participation in the medical interview without increasing the overall length of the interview.
Cegala
D J
DJ
Department of Family Medicine and School of Journalism and Communication, The Ohio State University, Columbus 43210, USA.
Post
D M
DM
McClure
L
L
D000368:Aged; D003142:Communication; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008487:Medical History Taking; D009820:Ohio; D010174:Pamphlets; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010358:Patient Participation; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011320:Primary Health Care