ABSTRACT

Research into various aspects of physician-patient communication has been conducted for approximately 30 years, and each year new studies are added to this vast and growing literature (Ong, DeHaes, Hoos, & Lammes, 1995; Pendleton, 1982; Roter, 1989; Thompson, 1994). A subset of this research is devoted to assessing the effects of interventions designed to train providers and patients in communication skills. For the most part, the impetuous for training providers is grounded in the desire to move away from a paternalistic biomedical model of provider-patient communication to a more patient centered biopsychosocial model (Emanuel & Emanuel, 1992). At the same time, patient communication skills training has been stimulated by research suggesting that patients’ active participation in their health care leads to greater satisfaction, increased compliance, and better health outcomes (Kaplan, Greenfield, & Ware, 1989; Leopold, Cooper, & Clancy, 1996).