Slicing it thin: new methods for brief sampling analysis using RIAS-coded medical dialogue.
OBJECTIVE
To explore the relationship between one-minute slices and full-session interaction and the predictive validity of the slices to ratings of affect and rapport.


METHODS
Third-year medical students (n=253) were videotaped during an OSCE. All interaction was coded using the Roter Interaction Analysis System (RIAS) and samples were drawn at minutes 1, 5, and 9 and extracted from the coded database. The slices were related in multivariate analysis to full-session interaction, corrected for slice content, and correlated with affect ratings of participants and independently rated judgments of rapport.


RESULTS
One-minute slices explained 33% of full-session variance in student interaction and 30% of variance in standardized patient interaction. Slices were significantly correlated with affective ratings of participants and independent judgments of rapport in a similar pattern as full-session interaction analysis.


CONCLUSIONS
One-minute slices of interaction can provide a meaningful degree of insight into OSCE session communication with both concurrent and predictive validity to ratings of session affect and rapport.


CONCLUSIONS
Evidence of concurrent and predictive validity further supports use of this approach as a research tool that provides an efficient means of analyzing processes of care, examining variation in communication throughout a visit and predicting visit outcomes.
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Baltimore, MD, USA. droter@jhsph.edu
Debra L
DL
Roter
Judith A
JA
Hall
Danielle
D
Blanch-Hartigan
Susan
S
Larson
Richard M
RM
Frankel
D000339:Affect; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013337:Students, Medical; D013997:Time Factors; D014743:Videotape Recording