Emotional personality/proximity versus emotional authenticity in patient-physician communication in healthy study participants, and in patients with benign breast disease, and breast cancer: a prospective case-control study in Finland.
OBJECTIVE
The associations between emotional personality, proximity and authenticity in patient-physician communication during breast cancer (BC) consultations are rarely considered together in a prospective study. We, therefore, investigated emotional personality/proximity versus authenticity in patient-physician communication in healthy study subjects (HSS) and in patients with benign breast disease (BBD) and breast cancer (BC).


METHODS
In the Kuopio Breast Cancer Study, 115 women with breast symptoms were evaluated regarding emotional personality, proximity and authenticity in their a patient-physician communication before any diagnostic procedures were carried-out.


RESULTS
The emotional personality and the emotional proximity in patient-physician communication was highly significantly positively correlated in the BBD group. The kappa-values for emotional personality versus emotional proximity in the HSS, BBD and BC groups were statistically significant. There was also a highly significant positive correlation between emotional personality and emotional authenticity in the HSS, BBD and BC groups and the kappa values in the HSS, BBD and BC groups were statistically significant. There was a highly significant positive correlation between emotional proximity and emotional authenticity in the BBD group, and the weighted kappa-values in the BBD group were statistically significant.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of the present study support a powerful link between emotional personality/proximity and emotional authenticity, and provides new information in patient-physician communication in the HSS, BBD and BC groups. This finding is of clinical importance, since during breast disease consultation, barriers to patient-physician communication may be associated with difficulties in early BC diagnosis in the breast cancer diagnostic unit.
Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland Department of Surgery, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland matti.eskelinen@kuh.fi.
Matti
M
Eskelinen
Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland Department of Surgery, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland.
Riika
R
Korhonen
Science Service Center, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland.
Tuomas
T
Selander
Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
Paula
P
Ollonen
D001941:Breast Diseases / Q000523:psychology*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003142:Communication; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010551:Personality; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011446:Prospective Studies
Patient–physician communication; authenticity; breast cancer; emotional; personality; proximity