Exploring the doctor-patient relationship: a sociocultural pilot study in a family practice residency.

Family physicians' growing attention to the nature of their patients' live should include the social and cultural factors that influence patient health and illness behavior. Patient visits to a family practice residency program were found to be influenced by the patients' beliefs about symptoms and the beliefs of their significant others, and symptom interference with valued activities. Data from physician-patient encounters suggest that physician attention to such sociocultural information as occupation and family structure may have positively influenced rapport. Results from this pilot study confirm the feasibility of observational research by physician-behavioral scientist teams in a primary care setting.