Sexual minority women's interactions with breast cancer providers.
Good patient-physician relationships and communication lead to better patient health and more satisfied patients. So far, satisfaction of sexual minority (lesbian, bisexual or women who partner with women) cancer patient-physician interactions is unknown. This study describes sexual minorities' experiences with their treating physicians and which provider attitudes were perceived as positive or negative. We conducted separate individual interviews with 39 sexual minority women diagnosed with breast cancer. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and then analyzed from a Grounded Theory perspective. Participants' narratives indicated that satisfaction is connected with a certain style of patient-physician interactions rather than physician gender. Specific provider traits in the two domains of (1) inter-personal behaviors and (2) medical expertise and decision-making determined patient satisfaction. These findings suggest that physicians of either gender can develop the skills needed to improve quality of breast cancer care for sexual minority women.
Boehmer
Ulrike
U
Boston University, School of Public Health, Department of Health Services, Boston, MA, USA. boehmer@bu.edu
Case
Patricia
P
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000739:Anecdotes as Topic; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001727:Bisexuality / Q000523:psychology*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D018452:Homosexuality, Female / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States