Correspondence among patients' self-reports, chart records, and audio/videotapes of medical visits.
This pilot study examined the covariation of patients' self-reports of instrumental and affective aspects of communication during physician-patient visits with 2 other sources of data: medical chart records and audio/videotapes. Participants were 17 community-based (nonuniversity) primary-care physicians and 77 of their patients, ages 50 to 80. Patients were interviewed by telephone within 1 week after their medical visits. Thirty-five of these visits were audio- and videotaped. Patients were asked to report on their receipt of specific cancer screening in the previous 2 years, the occurrence of instrumental communication events during the visit (e.g., recommendations), their affect, and their visit experiences and communication with their physicians. Results showed (a) noteworthy disagreements between patients' self-reports and medical charts regarding cancer screening; (b) better agreement of patients' self-reports with videotape records than with chart records regarding physicians' recommendations; (c) accurate recognition of patients' self-reported affect, communication, and visit experiences by third-party raters of both audiotapes and videotapes; and (d) similar correlations of audio- and videotape ratings with patients' self-reports as well as substantial correlations between audio and video ratings. The implications of these findings are discussed, and recommendations are made for future research.
DiMatteo
M Robin
MR
Department of Psychology, University of California at Riverside, USA. robin@citrus.ucr.edu
Robinson
Jeffrey D
JD
Heritage
John
J
Tabbarah
Melissa
M
Fox
Sarah A
SA
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003142:Communication; D003955:Diagnostic Tests, Routine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004282:Documentation / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D015141:Los Angeles; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000517:prevention & control; D009819:Office Visits; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012650:Self Disclosure; D013637:Tape Recording