Abstract
Effective communication between cancer patients and their primary doctors is important in alleviating patients’ physical and psychological burdens. However, cancer outpatients often hesitate to speak with their doctors even when they have something to say or questions to ask. This study examines the relationships between patients’ hesitance to communicate with their primary doctors and patients’ communication behaviors during their medical interviews. The participants were 51 individuals undergoing outpatient treatment in the form of complementary and alternative medicine. They were asked to recall the most recent consultation with their primary doctor, and then completed questionnaires about the degree of their hesitation, their communication behaviors, and their degree of satisfaction with that particular social exchange. In order to examine the relationships between patients’ communication behaviors, satisfaction, and hesitation, partial correlation coefficients controlling for patients’ age, cancer type, and employment condition were calculated. The results revealed that patients’ hesitation was related to some of their communication behaviors: presenting information, asking questions, stating preferences, and checking information. Hesitation is an obstructive factor in the effective communication of patients. Therefore, it is necessary for primary doctors to recognize this hesitation, and to address it by actively engaging in communication with their patients.
