Patients' racial attitudes and perceptions of clinicians

描述：(由申请人提供)非裔美国人和白人在医疗保健服务的分配上存在明显差异的原因仍然难以捉摸。人际间的种族动态似乎在医疗接触中起作用，但其机制尚不清楚。一种机制可能在患者身上找到。患者的种族态度最终可能会影响患者对临床医生的感知和评价。我的长期目标是为消除医疗方面的种族差异做出贡献。这个应用程序的目标是确定种族态度如何影响患者对临床医生的感知和评价。将追求两个具体目标：1.确定如何将消极的种族态度应用于对临床医生的态度。工作假设是，消极的种族态度适用于与不同种族和国籍的临床医生合作的态度。2.确定患者的种族态度如何影响对同种族和不同种族临床医生的评估。工作假设是，负面的种族态度部分解释了对不同种族临床医生的负面评价。为了验证这些工作假设，将收集和分析调查数据。 现有的有限数量的研究表明，医生的种族态度会影响就医情况。这项拟议的工作具有创新性，因为它研究了患者的种族态度如何影响医疗互动。解释临床医生的种族态度和认知之间的关系是重要的，因为它将提供有关患者对临床医生的种族信念在多大程度上是在医疗保健系统之外形成的信息。这项拟议的研究意义重大，因为它将提供迄今为止缺失的信息，即患者的种族思维如何影响临床医生的看法和评估。这可能是解决医疗保健中种族差异的关键一步，因为对临床医生的评估与护理的连续性、寻求护理的延迟和其他重要的健康行为有关。由于非洲裔美国人的临床医生较少，这种影响对非裔美国人的伤害将比白人更大。这项研究的结果有望帮助制定减少种族态度阻碍患者与临床医生沟通的可能性的策略。这种人际关系的改变可望提高护理质量，减少医疗不平等现象。

DESCRIPTION: (Provided by the Applicant) The cause of the well-documented African American-white disparity in the distribution of healthcare services continues to be elusive. Interpersonal racial dynamics seem to operate in medical encounters, but the mechanisms are unclear. One mechanism may be found with patients. Patients' racial attitudes may ultimately affect patients' perception and evaluation of clinicians. My long-term goal is to contribute to the elimination of racial disparities in medical treatment. The goal of this application is to determine how racial attitudes affect patients' perception and evaluation of clinicians. Two specific aims will be pursued: 1. Determine how negative racial attitudes are applied to attitudes about clinicians. The working hypothesis is that negative racial attitudes are applied to attitudes about working with different-race and nationality clinicians. 2. Determine how patients' racial attitudes affect evaluation of encounters with same- and different-race clinicians. The working hypothesis is that negative racial attitudes partially account for negative evaluation of different-race clinicians. In order to test these working hypotheses, survey data will be collected and analyzed. The limited number of existing studies suggest that doctors' racial attitudes can affect the medical encounter. The proposed work is innovative because it asks how patients' racial attitudes affect medical interactions. Explication of the relationship between racial attitudes and perception of clinicians is important because it will provide information about the extent to which patients' racial beliefs about clinicians are formed outside the healthcare system. The proposed research is significant because it will provide heretofore missing information about how the racial thinking of patients affects perceptions and evaluations of clinicians. This may be a critical step in addressing racial disparities in healthcare because evaluation of the clinician is associated with continuity of care, delays in seeking care and other important health behaviors. Because there are fewer African American clinicians, this effect would be more detrimental to African Americans than whites. The results of this study are expected to aid in the development of strategies that reduce the likelihood of racial attitudes impeding patient-clinician communication. Such interpersonal changes would be expected to improve the quality of care and reduce inequity in medical treatment.