Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Setting out: using this book
- 1 Locating the field: introducing health psychology
- 2 Thinking about health and the body
- 3 Choosing lifestyles
- 4 Controlling the body
- 5 Becoming ill
- 6 Comprehending bodily experience
- 7 Interacting with health professionals
- 8 Treating illness
- 9 Being ill
- 10 Dying
- 11 Relocating the field: critical health psychology
- Glossary
- References
- Author index
- Subject index
- References
7 - Interacting with health professionals
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Setting out: using this book
- 1 Locating the field: introducing health psychology
- 2 Thinking about health and the body
- 3 Choosing lifestyles
- 4 Controlling the body
- 5 Becoming ill
- 6 Comprehending bodily experience
- 7 Interacting with health professionals
- 8 Treating illness
- 9 Being ill
- 10 Dying
- 11 Relocating the field: critical health psychology
- Glossary
- References
- Author index
- Subject index
- References
Summary
There is ample evidence that communication should be considered as a powerful tool in medicine, not only in establishing a workable relationship with the patient, but also in both the diagnosis and therapeutic process.
(Bensing et al., 2003, p. 27)Effective delivery of health care depends to a great extent on the quality of the interaction between health care providers (doctors, nurses, allied health care professionals, informal caregivers) and consumers of health care (those seeking care and their loved ones).
(Kreps et al., 2003, p. 3)Learning objectives
The aim of this chapter is to review research on what influences people to seek health care, and what factors influence the quality of the interaction they have with health professionals. By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
identify factors that influence when and why people seek health care;
discuss some of the functions of patient–health professional interaction;
describe influences on the quality of patient–health professional interactions, including those at the individual, social and cultural level;
offer an analysis of the ways in which power operates within interactions with health professionals;
critique the current state of research into patient–health professional interaction;
outline some of the implications of traditional patient–health professional interaction research;
offer suggestions for future research in this area.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Health PsychologyA Critical Introduction, pp. 207 - 240Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006