The Associations Between Physician-Patient Communication and Adjustment Outcomes of Patients and Physicians: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Correlations

ABSTRACT

Physician-Patient communication (PPC) has been linked to patient adjustment outcomes. However, conflicting results have been reported and previous systematic reviews showed some methodological weaknesses. It has also been suggested that PPC is related to physicians’ own adjustment outcomes. This systematic review aims to explore and synthesize the associations between PPC and both patient and physician adjustment outcomes. A systematic search was conducted primarily in five databases and 11.488 non-duplicated articles were identified. Forty-five studies met the eligibility criteria and data extraction was performed for sample characteristics, PPC measurement, adjustment outcomes under examination and main outcomes. The observed results showed that the majority of the included studies were cross-sectional, assessed PPC by proxy-report and reported an overall positive association with patients’ adjustment outcomes. None of the studies examined the association between PPC and physicians’ adjustment outcomes. Thirty-three studies were meta-analyzed and showed a positive and significant association between PPC and patients’ adjustment outcomes (r = .16). Due to the small number of studies included in the meta-analysis, the heterogeneity was high. Subgroup analysis could not identify sources for heterogeneity. Research on the associations between PPC and physicians’ own adjustment outcomes is warranted. Future studies should be rigorous in defining clear PPC definitions, directionality of communication processes, and study design.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Shaohai Jiang (National University of Singapore) for his kindness in providing the data needed for the meta-analysis.

Disclosure statement

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

Authors’ contributions

Supervision: Carlos Carona, Cláudia Melo and Maria Cristina Canavarro. Validation: Marco Pereira, Carlos Carona, Cláudia Melo and Maria Cristina Canavarro. Methodology: Ana Cláudia Alves-Nogueira and Carlos Carona. Formal analysis: Ana Cláudia Alves-Nogueira and Ana Carolina Góis. Writing – Review & Editing: Ana Cláudia Alves-Nogueira, Marco Pereira, Carlos Carona, Cláudia Melo and Maria Cristina Canavarro. All authors read, critically revised, and approved the final manuscript.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, A. C. A-N., upon reasonable request.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2023.2243043

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Center for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive and Behavioral Intervention (CINEICC) – University of Coimbra, [UIDB/PSI/00730/2020]. Ana Cláudia Alves-Nogueira [2020.06779.BD] and Ana Carolina Góis [2020.09015.BD] were supported with publicly-funded PhD Grants awarded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology.