Patients’ Perceptions of Health Care Providers’ Dismissive Communication

Abstract

Some patients experience negative interactions with health care providers, such as when they perceive that their concerns are ignored by providers. The present study, guided by patient-centered communication, examined health care provider communication behaviors that resulted in patients feeling dismissed, and whether there were differences in providers who dismissed being perceived as (dis)similar to the patients in gender, race/ethnicity, or age. U.S. adults claiming they felt dismissed by a provider were asked to recall demographic information they perceived about the provider and what the provider said that was dismissive. Responses were coded for emergent themes. Results revealed that younger, female, and non-White participants most frequently reported being dismissed by a dissimilar provider. Patients felt dismissed when they perceived that providers were rude or did not take action, provided poor information, did not believe patients, rushed the visit, or were uninformed. Providers may want to avoid these behaviors and could consider obtaining training in supportive communication behaviors such as providing validation to patients and listening to patients in order to enhance patient satisfaction. Patients can also receive communication training to take a more active role in their medical encounters by learning to effectively ask questions, express preferences, and speak up for themselves.

“Being Sick Does Not Define You”: Communicated Narrative Sense-Making of Autoimmune Disease in Emerging Adult Women in the U.S.

“…As a result, this study offers further avenues to explore narrative-based resilience scholarship in the face of disruptive life events (Betts et al, 2022), like chronic illness (Venetis et al, 2020). Finally, this study contributes to a growing body of communication scholarship on autoimmune disease (Castle & Koenig Kellas, 2019; Gunning, 2022; Thompson, Pulido, et al, 2022) and dismissive and disenfranchising experiences for individuals with chronic illness and pain (Gunning & Taladay-Carter, 2023; Hildenbrand et al, 2022; Hintz & Tucker, 2023), notably women (Hintz, 2022; Thompson, Babu, & Makos, 2022, 2023).…”

“…As a result, emerging adults experiencing the onset of chronic illness symptoms struggle to find stories like theirs, resulting in mental health and identity impacts, including depression, anxiety, and fear for the future (Wilson & Stock, 2019). Due to their age, patients may experience contestation , or disbelief, of their symptoms by healthcare providers (Bontempo, 2022; Hildenbrand et al, 2022) and relational others (e.g., family members, friends; Hintz & Wilson, 2021; Thompson & Duerringer, 2020; Thompson et al, 2023), being told that they are too young to be sick (Gunning, 2022). As a result of contestation and a lack of stories that mirror their own experiences, emerging adults with chronic illness grapple with cognitive dissonance as they compare their former “well” selves to their new “ill” or “abnormal” identities, alongside their “normal” peers and relational others (April et al, 2021; Wilson & Stock, 2019).…”

“…Autoimmune diseases (ADs) are chronic, inflammatory conditions that cause the immune system to produce autoantibodies that mistakenly attack and destroy healthy, normal body tissues, perceiving these parts and processes as disease (Autoimmune Association, 2023). There are over one hundred ADs, many sharing overlapping and often invisible symptomology, which makes diagnosing autoimmunity challenging (Office on Women’s Health, 2021) and susceptible to contestation by healthcare providers (HCPs; Bontempo, 2022; Hildenbrand et al, 2022). This experience of contestation is exacerbated for women and patients who were assigned female at birth due to historic ideologies of the hysterical female patient that positioned AD as a psychiatric disorder (Hintz, 2022; Thompson, Babu, & Makos, 2022).…”

“But you don’t look sick:” Memorable messages of emerging adulthood autoimmune disease

“…Extending research on communication interactions in the context of chronic, invisible, and contested illness adds nuance to interpersonal interactions to provide better support for patients and their loved ones. The present study builds upon disenfranchising (Hintz, 2022; Thompson et al, 2022) and dismissive communication research, like Hildenbrand et al’s (2022) study which identified HCP actions that patients perceive as dismissive, by identifying the specific, interpersonally and verbally communicated messages that patients perceive as dismissive and (non)supportive. Identifying specific language offers a guidebook for HCPs and relational others to effectively communicate support to individuals navigating illness and pain.…”

The Problematics of Gender for Aviation Emergency Communication during an Inflight Emergency: A Case Study

“…Hedegaard (2019) studied medical personnel interacting with patients and found that when patients did not follow stereotypically gendered norms, the staff interacted differently with them (more informally, less "professionally"). Hildenbrand, Perrault, and Rnoh (2022) found that female patients were more likely to feel they were treated dismissively by healthcare providers than male patients. Mavisakalyan's (2015) meta-analysis of previous research on gender differentiation in languages around the world (such as gendered nouns or pronouns) showed a relationship with women's labor force participation.…”