The effects of patient-provider communication on 3-month recovery from acute low back pain
Authors
Shaw, William S.Pransky, Glenn S.
Roter, Debra L.
Winters, Thomas
Tveito, Torill H.
Larson, Susan M.
UMass Chan Affiliations
Department of Family Medicine and Community HealthDocument Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2011-01-01Keywords
Acute DiseaseAdult
*Communication
Disability Evaluation
Female
Health Care Surveys
Health Status Indicators
Humans
Low Back Pain
Male
Middle Aged
Pain Measurement
Patient-Centered Care
*Physician-Patient Relations
Primary Health Care
Prognosis
Prospective Studies
Psychometrics
Questionnaires
Risk Assessment
Statistics as Topic
Tape Recording
Time Factors
Treatment Outcome
Community Health and Preventive Medicine
Preventive Medicine
Primary Care
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
BACKGROUND: patient-provider communication has been indicated as a key factor in early recovery from acute low back pain (LBP), one of the most common maladies seen in primary care; however, associations between communication and LBP outcomes have not been studied prospectively. METHODS: working adults (n = 97; 64% men; median age, 38 years) with acute LBP completed baseline surveys, agreed to audio recording of provider visits, and were followed for 3 months. Using the Roter Interaction Analysis System, 10 composite indices of communication were compared with 1- and 3-month patient outcomes. RESULTS: patients (n = 30) with significant pain and dysfunction persisting at 3 months provided more biomedical information (t[75], 2.61; P < .05) and engaged in more negative rapport building (t[75], 2.33; P < .05) but showed no increase in psychosocial/lifestyle communication during the initial visit (P > .05). Providers asked these patients more biomedical questions (r = 0.35 with dysfunction), more psychosocial/lifestyle questions (r = 0.30), made more efforts to engage the patient (t[75], 4.49; P < .05), and did more positive rapport building (t[75], 2.13; P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: providers adapt their communication patterns to collect more information and establish greater rapport with high-risk patients, but patients focus more on biomedical than coping concerns. To better elicit psychosocial concerns from patients, providers may need to administer brief self-report measures or adopt more structured interviewing techniques.Source
J Am Board Fam Med. 2011 Jan-Feb;24(1):16-25. Link to article on publisher's siteDOI
10.3122/jabfm.2011.01.100054Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/30888PubMed ID
21209340Related Resources
Link to Article in PubMedae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.3122/jabfm.2011.01.100054