Race and Patient Perception of Interpersonal Processes of Care

Black women have the greatest mortality from breast cancer despite greater incidence of the disease among White women. Additionally they are more likely to be diagnosed at late stages although early detection through screening is widely available. Patients demographics socio­economic and health insurance status or psychosocial characteristics do not fully explain the discrepancies. This led to the hypothesis that the interpersonal processes of care-social and psychological aspects of physician/patient interactions involving communication decision making and interpersonal skills-also contributed to the differences. Because primary care providers play a major role in cancer prevention and screening the present study explored patients perception of interpersonal processes of care with regard to their primary care pro­viders. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 80 Black and White women diagnosed with breast cancer using an instrument developed by Stewart and colleagues. Descriptive bivariate and multi­variate probit analyses were conducted as well as a confirmatory factor analysis. This book will be most useful for health policy students researchers and clinicians.