Do they speak like me? Exploring how perceptions of linguistic difference may influence patient perceptions of healthcare providers

ABSTRACT

The increased utilization of telehealth has provided patients with the opportunity to interact with racially diverse healthcare providers (HCPs). While evidence of racial stereotypes in healthcare is well documented, less is known about whether linguistic cues increase or decrease racial bias in healthcare interactions. The purpose of this pilot study was to use virtual clinicians (VCs) to examine how varying linguistic features affect patient perceptions of Black-identifying HCPs. Participants (N = 282) were recruited to participate in an online pilot study using a two-arm posttest-only experimental design. Participants were randomly assigned to interact with a Black VC that used vocal cues associated with either Standard American English (SAE) or African American English (AAE) on the topic of colorectal cancer. After the interaction, participants completed a posttest questionnaire. Resulting data were analyzed using mediation.

KEYWORDS:

• Linguistic biases
• African American english
• diversity in healthcare
• communication inequities
• racial stereotypes
• virtual health clinicians
• diversity and equity

Acknowledgments

We thank Alexis Davis, M.A. at the UF Department of Linguistics for creating the African American Language (AAL) script, as her contribution made this manuscript possible; we also thank Mohan Zalake, PhD at the UF Department of Computer and Information Science and Engineering for programming the AAL for the virtual clinician.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data Availability Statement

Data are available upon request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications’ (UF CJC) doctoral dissertation award (PI: DNL). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official view of UF CJC.