Relationship of interpersonal behaviors and health-related control appraisals to patient satisfaction and compliance in a university health center.

OBJECTIVE

The authors' aim was to evaluate patient-provider relationships in a college health center.

PARTICIPANTS

Eighty student patients and their health-care providers.

METHODS

Patients completed a measure of perceived health competence before a consultation and measures of provider participatory behavior and interpersonal behavior before and after the consultation. They evaluated their satisfaction with care and compliance after the consultation and again 2 weeks later. Providers completed measures of their participatory behavior and patients' interpersonal behavior after the consultation.

RESULTS

Patients preferred to be well informed and to have their preferences taken into account, and generally felt competent at managing their own health affairs. They indicated they obtained the high level of participation they desired. Patients desired and actually experienced friendly and submissive providers. Degree of match between patients' desired and actual level of involvement in their care was associated with greater satisfaction. A greater match between the extent to which they desired the provider to be affiliative and the provider's actual affiliative behavior was associated with more satisfaction. No variables were predictive of patient compliance.

CONCLUSION

The authors discuss results in terms of the influence of situational factors characteristic of a college health center.