Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
Department of Health Policy, London School of Economics, London, UK.
Health Econ. 2019 May;28(5):641-652. doi: 10.1002/hec.3870. Epub 2019 Feb 14.
Despite its importance in health care, empirical evidence on patient trust is limited. This is likely because, as with many complex concepts, trust is difficult to measure. This study measured patient trust in health care providers in a sample of 667 patients in Senegal. Two instruments were used to measure patient trust in providers: a survey questionnaire and an incentivised behavioural economic experiment-a "trust game." The results show that the two measures are significantly, but weakly, associated. Using information from patients and providers, we find that continuity of care, provider communication ability, and clinical competence were positively associated with patient trust. Based on the results obtained from both methods, the trust game seems to have higher construct validity than the survey instrument in this context. This paper contributes to the methodological literature on patient trust and the evidence on the determinants of patient trust. It suggests that researchers interested in studying patient trust in providers should rely more on economic experiments and explore their validity in different contexts.
尽管患者信任在医疗保健中至关重要，但有关患者信任的经验证据有限。这可能是因为，与许多复杂的概念一样，信任很难衡量。本研究在塞内加尔的 667 名患者样本中测量了患者对医疗保健提供者的信任。使用了两种工具来衡量患者对提供者的信任：一份问卷调查和一个激励性的行为经济学实验——“信任游戏”。结果表明，这两种测量方法虽然显著但很微弱地相关。利用患者和提供者的信息，我们发现医疗服务的连续性、提供者的沟通能力和临床能力与患者信任呈正相关。根据两种方法获得的结果，在这种情况下，信任游戏似乎比调查工具具有更高的结构有效性。本文为患者信任的方法论文献和患者信任决定因素的证据做出了贡献。它表明，有兴趣研究提供者的患者信任的研究人员应该更多地依赖经济实验，并在不同的环境中探索其有效性。
