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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Hope College

Faculty Publications

Patient interactions

Publication Year

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Influence Of Physicians’ Beliefs On Propensity To Include Religion/Spirituality In Patient Interactions, Aaron B. Franzen Aug 2018

Influence Of Physicians’ Beliefs On Propensity To Include Religion/Spirituality In Patient Interactions, Aaron B. Franzen

Faculty Publications

This study examines physicians’ beliefs, their perceptions of whether religion impacts health outcomes, and their propensity to discuss religion/spirituality with patients. It is not uncommon for patients to want religious/spiritual conversations, but the occurrence is infrequent. This study adds to knowledge regarding which physicians include these topics. Using a nationally representative sample of physicians and a mediated bi-factor structural equation model, the author finds that “religious and spiritual” physicians connect religion and patient health more than other religious/spiritual orientations. As a result, “religious and spiritual” physicians include religion/spirituality most often (indirect path). After this variation is accounted for, “spiritual but …


Patient Or Physician Centered Care?: Structural Implications For Clinical Interactions And The Overlooked Patient, Aaron B. Franzen Aug 2017

Patient Or Physician Centered Care?: Structural Implications For Clinical Interactions And The Overlooked Patient, Aaron B. Franzen

Faculty Publications

Patient-centered care is widely supported by physicians, but this wide-spread support potentially obscures the social patterning of clinical interactions. We know that patients often want religious/spiritual conversations in the context of medical care but the provision is infrequent. As there is regional variance in religiosity, a gap in the literature exists regarding whether patient populations’ religiosity is connected to physicians’ self-reported religious/spiritual interactions. Using a national sample of U.S. physicians linked to county-level measures, the author test whether both physicians’ background and patient population characteristics are related to religious/spiritual interactions. Specifically, do physicians in more religious locations report more frequent …


Is This Relevant? Physician Perceptions, Clinical Relevance, And Religious Content In Clinical Interactions, Aaron B. Franzen Sep 2016

Is This Relevant? Physician Perceptions, Clinical Relevance, And Religious Content In Clinical Interactions, Aaron B. Franzen

Faculty Publications

Despite wide support among physicians for practicing patient-centered care, clinical interactions are primarily driven by physicians’ perception of relevance. While some will perceive a connection between religion and patient health, this relevance will be less apparent for others. I argue that physician responses when religious/spiritual topics come up during clinical interactions will depend on their own religious/spiritual background. The more central religion is for the physician, the greater his or her perception of religion's impact on health outcomes and his or her inclusion of religion/spirituality within clinical interactions. Using a nationally representative sample of physicians in the United States and …