Associations between patient–provider communication and socio-cultural factors in prostate cancer patients: A cross-sectional evaluation of racial differences

Abstract

Objective To examine the association between socio-cultural factors and patient-provider communication and related racial differences Methods Data analysis included 1854 men with prostate cancer from a population-based study. Participants completed an assessment of communication variables, physician trust, perceived racism, religious beliefs, traditional health beliefs, and health literacy. A multi-group structural equation modeling approach was used to address the research aims. Results Compared with African Americans, Caucasian Americans had significantly greater mean scores of interpersonal treatment (p <.01), prostate cancer communication (p < .001), and physician trust (p < .001), but lower mean scores of religious beliefs, traditional health beliefs, and perceived racism (all p values < .001). For both African and Caucasian Americans, better patient-provider communication was associated with more physician trust, less perceived racism, greater religious beliefs (all p-values<.01), and at least high school education (p<.05). Conclusion(s) Socio-cultural factors are associated with patient-provider communication among men with cancer. No evidence supported associations differed by race. Practice implication To facilitate patient-provider communication during prostate cancer care, providers need to be aware of patient education levels, engage in behaviors that enhance trust, treat patients equally, respect religious beliefs, and reduce the difficulty level of the information.

End-of-Life Decision Making and Communication of Bereaved Family Members of African Americans with Serious Illness

“…Overwhelming evidence, little of which represents AA experiences, suggests that decision making and decisional conflict for patients with serious illnesses and their families are impacted by factors including knowledge about diagnosis, treatment options, treatment outcomes, and information received from HCPs. [33][34][35][36][37][38] Communication is a critical component of end-of-life decision making among AAs and their families. 39 The findings from several studies suggest that AAs have limited knowledge a Missing values were due to family members' refusals or lack of knowledge to answer.…”

“…The former finding is consistent with another study where AAs' quality of communication was positively associated with religious beliefs. 36 In addition to measuring religious beliefs and quality of communication, these investigators measured AAs' trust in HCPs and found that AAs' trust in HCPs was positively associated with their quality of communication with HCPs. 36 Stronger religious values have been associated with greater trust in HCPs; trust, in turn, has been associated with higher quality of communication with HCPs.…”

“…36 In addition to measuring religious beliefs and quality of communication, these investigators measured AAs' trust in HCPs and found that AAs' trust in HCPs was positively associated with their quality of communication with HCPs. 36 Stronger religious values have been associated with greater trust in HCPs; trust, in turn, has been associated with higher quality of communication with HCPs. Conversely, distrust in HCPs has been associated with poorer quality of patientprovider communication.…”

“…Conversely, distrust in HCPs has been associated with poorer quality of patientprovider communication. 36,55 This is significant, because AAs report using religious beliefs to cope with illnesses. 56 In the current study, the positive association between family members' religious values and quality of communication may have occurred because most of the family members held strong religious beliefs.…”

Beck Depression Inventory-II: Factor Analyses with Three Groups of Midlife Women of African Descent in the Midwest, the South, and the U.S. Virgin Islands

“…Access to quality health care is not easily attained, and health insurance might be limited or unavailable (Miller, Kirk, Kaiser, & Glos, 2014; Thakur et al, 2014). Issues that are related to health literacy (Coughlin, Matthews-Juarez, Juarez, Melton, & King, 2014; Guo et al, 2014; James, Harville, Efunbumi, & Martin, 2014; Song et al, 2014) and cultural relevance (Coughlin et al, 2014; Craig et al, 2014) during the clinical encounter and decision-making processes (Smedley, Stith, & Nelson, 2003; United States Department of Health and Human Services Mental Health-The Office of Minority Health, 2016) might also be compromised.…”