Authors: Sarah V. Hantzmon, Clemontina A. Davenport, Maya N. Das Gupta, Temi A. Adekunle, Sarah E. Gaither, Maren K. Olsen, Sandro O. Pinheiro, Kimberly S. Johnson, Hannah Mahoney, Allison Falls, Lauren Lloyd, and Kathryn I. Pollak
Journal: Patient Education and Counseling
Abstract: Objective: Many have reported racial disparities in self-reported trust in clinicians but have not directly assessed expressions of trust and distrust in physician-patient encounters. We created a codebook to examine racial differences in patient trust and distrust through audio-recorded cardiologist-patient interactions. Methods: We analyzed data from a randomized controlled trial of audio-recorded outpatient cardiology encounters (50 White and 51 Black patients). We created a codebook for trust and distrust that was applied to recordings between White cardiologists and White and Black patients. We assessed differences in trust, distrust, and guardedness while adjusting for patient age, sex, and first appointment with the cardiologist. Results: Compared to White patients, Black patients had significantly lower expressions of trust ([IRR] [95 % CI]: 0.59 [0.41, 0.84]) and a significantly lower mean guarded/open score ([β] [95 % CI] 0.38 [ 0.71, 0.04]). There was no statistically significant association between race and odds of at least one distrustful expression (OR [95 % CI] 1.36 [0.37, 4.94]). Conclusion and practice implications: We found that coders can reliably identify patient expressions of trust and distrust rather than relying on problematic self-reported measures. Results suggest that White clinicians can improve their communication with Black patients to increase expressions of trust.
Key Findings
- This codebook gives a new approach to examining racial disparities and treatment in healthcare settings that avoids relying on patient self- reported assessments, which are problematic due to ceiling effects.
- It can be used to strengthen clinician communication and ultimately improve patient health outcomes.
Citation: Hantzmon SV, Davenport CA, Das Gupta MN, Adekunle TA, Gaither SE, Olsen MK, Pinheiro SO, Johnson KS, Mahoney H, Falls A, Lloyd L, Pollak KI. Race differences in patient trust and distrust from audio-recorded cardiology encounters. Patient Educ Couns. 119:108083. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2023.108083. Epub 2023 Nov 19. PMID: 37989068; PMCID: PMC10842896.