Physicians’ Online Writing Language Style and Patient Satisfaction: The Mediator of Depth of Physician–Patient Interactions

Abstract

Online health counseling (OHC) is increasingly important in modern healthcare. This development has attracted considerable attention from researchers. However, the reality of the lack of physician–patient communication and dissatisfaction with online health services remains prevalent, and more research is needed to raise awareness about important issues related to OHC services, especially in terms of patient satisfaction and depth of interaction (i.e., the product of the number of interactions and the relevance of the content). This study constructs an empirical model to explore the relationship between physicians’ online writing language style (inclusive language and emojis), depth of physician–patient interactions, and patient satisfaction. The study obtained 5064 online health counseling records from 337 pediatricians and analyzed them using text mining and empirical methods. The results showed that physicians’ inclusive language (β = 0.3198, p < 0.05) and emojis (β = 0.6059, p < 0.01) had a positive impact on patient satisfaction. In addition, the depth of the physician–patient interaction partially mediated this effect. This study promotes a better understanding of the mechanisms of physician–patient interactions in online settings and has important implications for how online physicians and platforms can better provide online healthcare services.