Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress 2023 EHA Congress 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

A round-up of the ONWARDS phase 3 clinical trials evaluating the novel weekly insulin icodec in people with diabetes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
BMC Primary Care
Published in: BMC Primary Care 1/2018

Open Access 01-12-2018 | Research article

Patient factors that affect trust in physicians: a cross-sectional study

Authors: Agnus M. Kim, Jaekyoung Bae, Sungchan Kang, Yeon-Yong Kim, Jin-Seok Lee

Published in: BMC Primary Care | Issue 1/2018

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

While trust in physicians has been rigorously investigated regarding its concept, measurement, and factors, the studies have mainly focused on the attributes of the physicians. This approach can lead to a limited understanding of trust in physicians as trust is based on the relationship, an interaction of both parties: patients and physicians. This study aimed to investigate the factors for trust in physicians among the Koreans by focusing on patients’ traits which are related to their subjective perceptions.

Methods

A web-based survey was conducted between August and September 2016 among 1000 Korean adults aged 18 to 59 years. Survey participants were selected by a proportionate quota sampling based on age, sex and place of residence. The t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were performed to examine the difference in trust in physicians among the different groups in each variable of patient characteristics. An ordinal logistic regression model was employed to examine the association between trust in physicians and patient attributes.

Results

Negative health-related traits, such as stress and low self-rated health, were likely to lower trust in physicians, and women were less likely to trust physicians. The negative attitudes toward the current health care system were strongly associated with low trust in physicians. Meanwhile, recent experience of hospitalization or outpatient visit was positively associated with trust in physicians, and experience of not being able to use health facilities showed no significant association. These results suggest that trust in physicians is more likely to be lowered by negative perception than by the objective conditions or experience.

Conclusion

In investigating the factors for trust in physicians, the patients’ predispositions, which make them less likely to trust physicians, should be considered. The attributes of the patients in Korea, which could negatively affect trust in physicians, need to be investigated in consideration of the recent changes in patient-physician relationships and the medical environment in Korea.
Appendix
Available only for authorised users
Literature
1.
Nishgaki E, Asai A, Ohnishi M, Fukui T. Concepts of trust and distrust in physician-patient relationship in Japan. Taijin shakai shinri kenkyu. 2004;4:11–20.
2.
Mechanic D, Schlesinger M. The impact of managed care on patients’ trust in medical care and their physicians. Jama. 1996;275(21):1693–7.PubMedCrossRef
3.
4.
Fiscella K, Meldrum S, Franks P, Shields CG, Duberstein P, McDaniel SH, Epstein RM. Patient trust: is it related to patient-centered behavior of primary care physicians? Med Care. 2004;42(11):1049–55.PubMedCrossRef
5.
Thom DH. Physician behaviors that predict patient trust. J Fam Prac. 2001;50(4):323–8.
6.
Hall MA, Dugan E, Zheng B, Mishra AK. Trust in physicians and medical institutions: what is it, can it be measured, and does it matter? Milbank Q. 2001;79(4):613–39.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRef
7.
Schafermeyer RW, Asplin BR. Hospital and emergency department crowding in the United States. Emerg Med Australasia. 2003;15(1):22–7.
8.
Caterinicchio RP. Testing plausible path models of interpersonal trust in patient-physician treatment relationships. Soc Sci Med Med Psychol Med Sociol. 1979;13:81–99.CrossRef
9.
Emanuel EJ, Emanuel LL. Four models of the physician-patient relationship. Jama. 1992;267(16):2221–6.PubMedCrossRef
10.
Anderson LA, Dedrick RF. Development of the Trust in Physician scale: a measure to assess interpersonal trust in patient-physician relationships. Psychol Rep. 1990;67(3 Pt 2):1091–100.PubMed
11.
Gray BH. Trust and trustworthy care in the managed care era. Health Aff. 1997;16(1):34–49.CrossRef
12.
Mechanic D, Meyer S. Concepts of trust among patients with serious illness. Soc Sci Med. 2000;51(5):657–68.PubMedCrossRef
13.
14.
Doescher MP, Saver BG, Franks P, Fiscella K. Racial and ethnic disparities in perceptions of physician style and trust; 2000.CrossRef
15.
Rompf SA. Trust and rationality: an integrative framework for trust research: Springer; 2014.
16.
Castelfranchi C, Falcone R. Trust is much more than subjective probability: mental components and sources of trust. In: System. Sciences, 2000 Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Hawaii International Conference on: 2000, vol. 11: IEEE; 2000. p. 10.
17.
18.
Hsieh MO, Kagle JD. Understanding patient satisfaction and dissatisfaction with health care. Health Soc Work. 1991;16(4):281–90.PubMedCrossRef
19.
Blendon RJ, Benson JM, Hero JO. Public trust in physicians—US medicine in international perspective. N Engl J Med. 2014;371(17):1570–2.PubMedCrossRef
20.
Kim K, Monn J, Kim M, Baek J, Park J. National Risk Awareness of Public Health Issues and Application for Future Policy Developments. In: Report of the Research Institute for Healthcare. Policy; 2016. p. 175.
21.
Ro J-S, Lee J-S, Kang S-C, Jung H-M. Worry experienced during the 2015 Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) pandemic in Korea. PLoS One. 2017;12(3):e0173234.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRef
22.
Kim Y-Y, Bae J, Lee J-S. Effects of patients’ motives in choosing a provider on determining the type of medical institution. Patient Prefer Adherence. 2017;11:1933.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRef
23.
24.
Kim AM, Cho S, Kim HJ, Jung H, Jo M-W, Lee JY, Eun SJ. Primary care Patients’ preference for hospitals over clinics in Korea. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018;15:6.
25.
The Commonwealth Fund: The commonwealth fund survey of public view of the US. 2208.
26.
Alesina A, La Ferrara E. Who trusts others? J Public Econ. 2002;85(2):207–34.CrossRef
27.
Irwin K, Edwards K, Tamburello JA. Gender, trust and cooperation in environmental social dilemmas. Soc Sci Res. 2015;50:328–42.PubMedCrossRef
28.
Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs: Korean Women’s health statistics. In. Edited by NS K; 2013: 90.
29.
Jeon G, Choi E, Lee H. Gender-related difference in the Utiliazation of health care services by Korean adults. J Korean Academy Public Health Nurs. 2010;24(2):182–96.
30.
Park J-E, Kwon S-M. Determinants of the utilization of oriental medical services by the elderly. J Korean Med. 2011;32.
31.
van den Brink-Muinen A, Rijken PM. Does trust in health care influence the use of complementary and alternative medicine by chronically ill people? BMC Public Health. 2006;6:188–8.
32.
Shippee T, Henning-Smith C, Shippee N, Kemmick Pintor J, Call KT, McAlpine D, Johnson PJ. Discrimination in medical settings and attitudes toward complementary and alternative medicine: the role of distrust in conventional providers. J Health Disparities Res Pract. 2013;6(1):3.
33.
Bowen DJ, Anderson J, White J, Powers D, Greenlee H. Preferences for alternative and traditional health care: relationship to health behaviors, health information sources, and trust of providers. J Gay Lesbian Med Assoc. 2002;6(1):3–7.CrossRef
34.
Statistics Korea: The average number of outpatient visits per day. 2017.
35.
US Department of Health Human Services. The health consequences of smoking—50 years of progress: a report of the surgeon general; 2014. p. 17.
36.
Lovallo WR. Stress and health: biological and psychological interactions: Sage publications; 2015.
37.
Eriksson I, Undén A-L, Elofsson S. Self-rated health. Comparisons between three different measures. Results from a population study. Int J Epidemiol. 2001;30(2):326–33.CrossRef
38.
Bleich SN, Özaltin E, Murray CJ. How does satisfaction with the health-care system relate to patient experience? Bull World Health Organ. 2009;87(4):271–8.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRef
39.
Gary TL, Narayan K, Gregg EW, Beckles GL, Saaddine JB. Racial/ethnic differences in the healthcare experience (coverage, utilization, and satisfaction) of US adults with diabetes. Ethnicity Dis. 2003;13(1):47–54.
40.
Chang Y. Health status and health care utilization of the Koreans based on the OECD health statistics. In: vol. 295: Korea Instittue for health and Social Affairs; 2015.
41.
Lee SY, Chae SM, Hwang DK, Yoon CH, Sohn CG, Ahn DH, Jeong JW, Song GM, Yoon S, Cha MR. The current status of health behaviors and mental habits and the policy directions to improve them in Korea. In: Korea institute for Health and Social Affairs; 2016.
42.
Jeong H, Kim M, Yeo Y, Kim M, Wu S, SA K. A study of social cohesion: Koreans’ perceived social cohesion. In. Sejong. Korea: Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs; 2016. p. 79.
43.
Ha. YC: why is the Korean society insecure? Economics Research Review 2015, 54(2):453–466.
44.
Kang C, Lee SC. Generalized trust, civic engagement, and inequality: effect of civic engagement and inequality. Journal of Korean Social Welfare Administration. 2013;15(4):1–28.
45.
Chang SC. Explaining the decline of social Trust in South Korea: from the comparative perspective. The Korean Journal of Area Studies. 2007;25(3):125–56.
46.
Park H-B, Lee H-C, Kim D-W, Chul-Soo K, Park B-R. The levels and determinants of the Koreans' Trust: interpersonal, associational, and mass media trust affected by association participation, and socio-economic status. The Korea Association for Policy Studies. 2003;12(3):199–227.
47.
OECD: OECD Better Life Index Report 2014. In.; 10`4.
48.
Park C. Crisis of trust and social capital. Social Criticism. 1999;19(1):33–64.
49.
The Supreme Court of Korea: Judiciary Yearbook. In. Seoul, Korea: The Supreme Court of Korea; 2000–2008.
50.
Yoo I-S. Countermeasures of violence against medical staff. J Korean Medical Association. 2014;57(2):88–92.CrossRef
Metadata
Title
Patient factors that affect trust in physicians: a cross-sectional study
Authors
Agnus M. Kim
Jaekyoung Bae
Sungchan Kang
Yeon-Yong Kim
Jin-Seok Lee
Publication date
01-12-2018
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Primary Care / Issue 1/2018
Electronic ISSN: 2731-4553
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12875-018-0875-6

Other articles of this Issue 1/2018

BMC Primary Care 1/2018 Go to the issue

Research article

Falls and long-term care: a report from the care by design observational cohort study

Research article

Key attributes of patient centered medical homes associated with patient activation of diabetes patients

Research article

Development and validation of a Malawian version of the primary care assessment tool

Research article

Promoting sustainability in quality improvement: an evaluation of a web-based continuing education program in blood pressure measurement

Research article

The capacity to work puzzle: a qualitative study of physicians’ assessments for patients with common mental disorders

Research article

Analytical typology of multiprofessional primary care models