ArticleHealth expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy2019
The association between patients' expectations and experiences of task-, affect- and therapy-oriented communication and their anxiety in medically unexplained symptoms consultations.
Article in Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- Association of occupational burnout and perceived healthcare service quality with medical disputes among physicians and medical technicians: a cross-sectional study in China.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Patient-Registered Nurse Communication: Exploring Patients' Expectations and Experience in Primary Care Consultations.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2025Observational
- Global Communication Practices and Their Impact on Patient Caregivers' Satisfaction in the Surgical Waiting Area: A Scoping Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Looking beyond the eyes of the patient: The importance of effective communication in the treatment of age-related macular degeneration.Acta ophthalmologica · 2025Article
- Which difficulties do GPs experience in consultations with patients with unexplained symptoms: a qualitative study.BMC family practice · 2019Article
- The association between patients' expectations and experiences of task-, affect- and therapy-oriented communication and their anxiety in medically unexplained symptoms consultations.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2019Article
- Modeling the communication-satisfaction relationship in hospital patients.SAGE open medicine · 2019Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIt is unknown whether patients with medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) differ from patients with medically explained symptoms (MES) regarding their expectations and experiences on task-oriented communication (ie, communication in which the primary focus is on exchanging medical content), affect-oriented communication (ie, communication in which the primary focus is on the emotional aspects of the interaction) and therapy-oriented communication (ie, communication in which the primary focus is on therapeutic aspects) of the consultation and the extent to which GPs meet their expectations.
objectiveThis study aims to explore (a) differences in patients' expectations and experiences in consultations with MUS patients and patients with MES and (b) the influence of patients' experiences in these consultations on their post-visit anxiety level. STUDY
designProspective cohort.
settingEleven Dutch general practices. MEASUREMENTS: Patients completed the QUOTE-COMM (Quality Of communication Through the patients' Eyes) questionnaire before and after the consultation to assess their expectations and experiences and these were related to changes in patients' state anxiety (abbreviated State-Trait Anxiety Inventory; STAI).
resultsExpectations did not differ between patients with MUS and MES. Patients presenting with either MUS or MES rated their experiences for task-related and affect-oriented communication of their GP higher than their expectations. GPs met patients' expectations less often on task-oriented communication in MUS patients compared to MES patients (70.2% vs 80.9%; P = ˂0.001). Affect-oriented communication seems to be most important in reducing the anxiety level of MUS patients (β -0.63, 95% Cl = -1.07 to -0.19). DISCUSSION: Although the expectations of MUS patients are less often met compared to those of MES patients, GPs often communicate according to patients' expectations. Experiencing affect-oriented communication is associated with a stronger reduction in anxiety in patients with MUS than in those with MES.
conclusionGPs communicate according to patients' expectations. However, GPs met patients' expectations on task-oriented communication less often in patients with MUS compared to patients with MES. Experiencing affect-oriented communication had a stronger association with the post-consultation anxiety for patients with MUS than MES.
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