Patient Compliance and Satisfaction With Physician Influence Attempts

Abstract

Utilizing a recently developed health communication theory, Reinforcement Expectancy Theory (RET), we conducted a two-part study to assess the effectiveness of communication strategies designed to improve both initial and long-term medical adherence. Study 1 analyzed patients' evaluations of communication regard strategies and the effectiveness of these strategies in initial encounters. As predicted, negative regard strategies used by male physicians were perceived as more appropriate than negative regard strategies used by female physicians. Physician gender interacted with strategy effectiveness such that male physicians were persuasive if they used either positive or negative regard strategies, whereas female physicians were limited to using positive regard strategies. The results also indicated that the use of negative regard strategies by male physicians does not hinder patient satisfaction or physician perceptions, whereas the use of negative regard strategies by female physicians is negatively related to these outcome measures. The RET framework tested in Study 2 argued that occasional use of non-rewarding communication would facilitate communication effectiveness for both male and female physicians in ongoing physician-patient relationships. The results supported this assumption. Physician gender, however, did not moderate the effectiveness of certain strategy combinations as expected. Implications for future research concerning long-term compliance are offered.