U.S. mothers' behaviors and preferences when choosing physicians for their families: Assisting “Chief Medical Officers”

Abstract

We performed an online study of 320 U.S. mothers to determine how this group, generally regarded as the "Chief Medical Officers" of their families, find physicians for their families. We also aimed to uncover mothers' information preferences with the goal of helping health care systems improve the content they offer. Mothers responded how they chose their last family medicine physician, and the level of importance they placed on various types of provider information when making that decision. Mothers rated providers' communication style as the most important characteristic. Interpersonal referrals were the most commonly cited source of information. Mothers also rated being able to extract personality characteristics and feelings of relatability from a provider's online biography as important in selecting a provider.

Family and Parental Decision Making When Choosing a Paediatric General Practice Service: What Factors Mattered Most?

“…In a rare circumstance, the present study found that men perceived higher "doctor's appearance" rating score as compared to women when choosing a paediatric general practice and this association was statistically significant. This finding was also contrary to a previous study that indicate mothers rated personality characteristics of health care provider to be an important element when deciding on a provider in comparison to fathers (Perrault & Inderstrodt-Stephens, 2017). Parents with lower-income level perceived higher "doctor's appearance" rating score as compared to parents with higherincome level when choosing a paediatric general practice and this association was statistically significant.…”

How do consumers respond when presented with novel doctor performance information? A multivariate regression analysis

“…11,14 Survey studies, such as that by Bornstein et al, 15 found that professional factors and management practices outweigh a doctor's personal characteristics, while another study by Kenny et al 12 indicated care quality as the most essential, where a summation scale broadly grouped together technical care, interpersonal care and continuity. Perrault and Inderstrodt-Stephens 13 found communication style as being most important, but in the absence of including any elements of technical quality. Discrete choice experiments have indicated that, for many, technical quality outweighs interpersonal skills, and yet a substantial proportion of respondents placed the highest value on interpersonal skills.…”

“…Studies of consumer preferences in choosing a doctor present a variety of results, dependent in part on what the study design can measure and what doctor characteristics are included. [8][9][10][11][12][13] Studies exploiting administrative data to determine revealed preferences have pointed to consumers choosing primary care doctors who resemble themselves in terms of observable characteristics, namely, age and gender. 11,14 Survey studies, such as that by Bornstein et al, 15 found that professional factors and management practices outweigh a doctor's personal characteristics, while another study by Kenny et al 12 indicated care quality as the most essential, where a summation scale broadly grouped together technical care, interpersonal care and continuity.…”