Physician-patient communication patterns (PPCP)
Developers: J Shapiro, E Saltzer
Year of publication: 1981
Date of last revision: 21 October 2019
Setting in which the tool was originally developed/validated: Family medicine
Restriction to setting(s): Not specified
Target group: Family doctors and their patients, including culturally similar and dissimilar dyads
Language(s): English
Tool topics:
Facilitative communication / stimulating patient activation
Gathering information/listening
General communication behavior / Overall communication behavior
Information giving / providing information / explanation and planning
Patient perspective – considering, eliciting
Relationship building
Specific constructs/behaviours:
Scales:
1. Establishing rapport (initial physician demeanor, use of psychosocial questions)
2. Patient health belief system (assessment of the patient's health belief system, physician evaluation of the patient's health belief system, physician knowledge of culture-specific patient health beliefs)
3. Presentation of the therapeutic regimen (physician use of appropriate language, assessment of patient comprehension, attempt to incorporatemedical regimen into home treatment, exploration of impact of regimen on the patient's family, and sensitivity to patient's need for tangible treatment)
4. Patient feedback (providing the patient an opportunity to ask questions, asking the patient to repeat instructions, encouraging patient selfdisclosure, and asking about patient expectations for treatment)
Additional categories:
5. Quality of explanation of the therapeutic regimen
6. Sensitivity to patient modesty
Types of data required to use the tool: Audio recordings
Intended application: Research
Reference(s) to development/validation paper(s):
Shapiro J, Saltzer E. Cross-cultural aspects of physician-patient communications patterns. Urban Health. 1981 Dec;10(10):10-15
Tool/manual available: No.
Additional information on copyright or other matters: -
Access: Public
Contact: Johanna Shapiro