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Patient participation during dental consultations: the influence of patients' characteristics and dentists' behavior
Author(s) -
Schouten Barbara C.,
Hoogstraten Johan,
Eijkman Michiel A. J.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
community dentistry and oral epidemiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.061
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1600-0528
pISSN - 0301-5661
DOI - 10.1034/j.1600-0528.2003.00017.x
Subject(s) - medicine , dentistry , family medicine
– Objective: This study examined the influence of the following variables on patients' information‐seeking and participating behavior during emergency treatment: patients' preferences for information and participation, patients' coping style, patients' socio‐demographic variables, and dentists' communicative behavior. Methods: The sample consisted of 83 patients receiving emergency care from 13 different dentists. Consultations were videotaped in order to assess dentists' and patients' behavior. Dentists' communicative behavior was coded by means of the Communication in Dental Settings Scale (CDSS); scores for patients' behavior included the number and nature of questions asked during the consultation, attempts to offer diagnoses, and whether or not patients made the decision to undergo treatment themselves. At home, patients filled out a questionnaire that included scales to measure their preference for information and participation and other background variables. Results: Results showed that patients' desire for information and participation, together with other variables, was not reflected in their overt behavior. Furthermore, dentists' communicative behavior was unrelated to patients' information‐seeking and participating behavior. Conclusions: Scores on the CDSS show that still there is a discrepancy between the legal prerequisites of information‐giving and emergency dental practice. Therefore, dentists' information‐giving behavior should be improved in order to enhance the patients' right to make informed decisions.