title: Differences in physician communication when patients ask versus tell about religion/spirituality: a pilot study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Research suggests that physicians should pursue spiritual issues and that patients desire to discuss religion/spirituality (R/S) in medical encounters. This study explored the differences in physician communication in response to patient inquiry or disclosure of R/S and hypothesizes that physician communication will differ when patients disclose R/S as contrasted to inquire about R/S.
  
  
  METHODS
  Family physicians and family medicine resident physicians were recruited from a family medicine department at a community hospital (n=27). An objective structured clinical examination, with a standardized patient encounter, was used to expose the participants to a conversation regarding R/S. Participants were assigned, by alternating clustered assignment, to two conditions: patient disclosure of R/S or patient inquiry about physician R/S. The primary outcome measure was physician response, specifically physician-control, partnership-building, and supportive-talk messages.
  
  
  RESULTS
  When the patient asks questions about R/S, physicians communicate more control messages and less supportive talk messages than when the patient discloses information about R/S.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Training physicians to anticipate and respond to patient disclosure and inquiry will increase the likelihood they can enact patient-centered strategies. These methods should focus on teaching residents how to be sensitive to the R/S context of their patients and to recognize their own intuitive reactions to patient communication in that context.
authors: Department of Family Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD.
authors: Christy J W
authors: CJ
authors: Ledford
authors: Mollie R
authors: MR
authors: Canzona
authors: Dean A
authors: DA
authors: Seehusen
authors: Lauren A
authors: LA
authors: Cafferty
authors: Monica E
authors: ME
authors: Schmidt
authors: Joseph C
authors: JC
authors: Huang
authors: Melinda M
authors: MM
authors: Villagran
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003142:Communication; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000523:psychology*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012067:Religion; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D029181:Spirituality