An investigation of gendered patient-doctor interaction in UK primary health

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Communication between patients and practitioners is a key component of healthcare. The quality ofpatient-practitioner communication is integral in information gathering and giving, understanding theperspective of the patient, building an effective relationship, and decision making. However,communication patterns, i.e. verbal and non-verbal behaviour, vary across clinician groups andhealthcare settings, with evidence of implications for consultation and health. Despite evidence thatclinician and patient gender can influence communication in primary care consultations, and consultationoutcomes, there is currently limited research exploring how the influence of gender occurs and impactson consultations. This study aims to address this gap in knowledge by exploring how patient and doctorgender influence verbal and non-verbal interactions in primary care consultations in the UK. A dataset ofvideo-recorded GP consultations and linked patient interviews is available for secondary analysis. Patientinterview data will be subjected to interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA), which seeks tounderstand patient experience, gendered health beliefs and patterns of help-seeking. Recordedconsultations between GP and doctors will be subjected to Conversation Analysis (CA), which seeks toidentify communication patterns that differ with gender in both patients and doctors. It will also explorethe displays of concordance and discordance between GPs and patients, and whether this differs insame-sex and different-sex dyads. The study will address how gender influences behaviour in primarycare consultations and how this can be improved to provide better quality of treatment and enrich thehealth outcomes and wellbeing of individuals.