Patients' anxiety and hope: predictors and adherence intentions in an acute care context

Abstract

Context Good patient-provider interactions promote satisfaction with health care, adherence to treatment recommendations and improved health. However, little research has examined patients' emotions and how they relate to patients' experiences with health care and their adherence intentions in acute care settings.Objective This study examined the predictors and consequences of two emotions pertinent to the uncertainty of acute health-care experiences: anxiety and hopefulness.Design Patients who arrived at a general surgery clinic for an initial consultation were interviewed before and after the consultation. Prior to the consultation with a physician, patients completed baseline measures of their emotional state. Following the consultation, patients completed measures of understanding of the information provided by the surgeon, perceived control over treatment decisions, adherence intentions and emotional state.Results Understanding and control predicted less anxiety and greater hopefulness, compared to baseline. Only hopefulness predicted adherence intentions. These relationships remained even after controlling for characteristics of the patients and interactions.Discussion These findings identify aspects of psychosocial care that are critical for promoting positive (and mitigating negative) emotional states in patients. Even in a brief consultation in a clinic setting, physicians may be able to improve patients' emotional state by promoting a sense of control and clarifying information they convey, and patients' positive emotional states may be critical for raising adherence intentions.The only recognizable feature of hope is action.-Grace Paley

The Patient Experience: Informing Practice through Identification of Meaningful Communication from the Patient’s Perspective

“…This will only be achieved when the caring encounter is experienced as a meaningful encounter. Patients who understand the information given to them and are given a sense of control in the decision-making process are likely to be less anxious and comply with treatment recommendations [ 18 ] with potential to reduce the length of stay and risk of readmission. Despite the limitations of this study, it has provided a foundation for future research in this field through the identification of influencing factors that contribute to overall patient satisfaction and the difficulties surrounding patient understanding and engagement.…”

“…From 2010 to 2012 the literature focused on the behaviours affecting a good patient experience. There was a shift in focus during 2014 as both [ 18 , 19 ] examined the characteristics of negative patient experiences.…”

“…Many Trusts have introduced the opportunity for patients to explain why they have chosen their response to the FFT question and this was rolled out as a national requirement from April 2015. The addition of qualitative patient feedback has the potential to provide a richer conceptualisation of both negative and positive interactions and how these may be developed as experience perceptions are subjective and individual [ 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ].…”

“…Relationship-centred care remains a key theme in contemporary healthcare with recognition that patients who are listened to feel more involved in their care and retain a sense of control [ 32 ]. Patients who understand the information provided by the doctor (the term doctor has been used as opposed to physician because this is the term used in the questions) feel a greater sense of control over the treatment decision reducing anxiety and increasing hopefulness making adherence to treatment more likely as they have been motivated by the promise of a positive outcome through the development of a trusting relationship [ 18 ].…”

Empower to connect and connect to empower: experience in using a humanistic approach to improve patients’ access to, and experience of, care in isolation wards during the COVID-19 outbreak in Singapore

“…The formulation of the intervention strategies was informed by literature on patient experience which shows that well-informed patients are less anxious, 13 and patients with a new diagnosis without previous illness experience to draw on often feel apprehensive and many of them seek both formal and informal help. 14 By putting carefully curated formal information (expert knowledge) and informal information (stories of lived experiences of others overcoming similar or other major adversities) together into a common device (iPad), we intended to provide patients immediate and direct access to what they needed the most to alleviate anxiety and restore their sense of control during their isolation.…”