Abstract
The attempt to improve patient satisfaction in hospitals is of increasing importance today. Good doctor-patient communication is a great part of patient satisfaction. Doctors need to know a great deal, not just medical conditions, about their patients, and build good communicative relationships with them. What is in the patient's mind, however, is not easily accessible to them. In this study, we propose, as a contribution to the answer to the question of how to improve doctor-patient communication, a way to use a facial expression manipulating interface in the treatment of patients with facial disorders.In particular, we focus on how the log data registered by patients is to be used by doctors. We have conducted an experiment with 32 patients with jaw deformity. The result has shown that some patients are concerned with the affected area when they do not much manipulate the affected area on the interface. The result disconfirms the received view that one's manifest attentive behaviors, such as gazing and manipulating, positively indicate the degree of one's focus. Hence, in using the interface in the medical care, doctors must take into account the operation amount of the interface and evaluate it properly.
