Differences in how physicians and patients perceive physicians relational communication
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The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between physicians self-perceptions of their typical communicative style during medical interactions and the patients perception of the physicians communicative styles. Three dimensions of communicative style were studied: interpersonal involvement, communicative dominance, and expressiveness. The research participants were 25 physicians and 354 patients of a large, multifaceted medical clinic. There were three major findings of this study: (1) physicians self-perceptions and patients perceptions of physicians communicative style differed significantly, (2) these perceptual differences were systematically related to the patients ages and education levels, and (3) physicians self-perceptions of communication were unrelated to the patients satisfaction with medical care. Implications and limitations of this study were discussed. 1988 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.