How Online Patient-Provider Communication Alleviates Psychological Distress Among Patients with Chronic Diseases: The Role of Perceived Patient-Centered Communication and Adaptive Coping Strategies

Chronic diseases, which require long-term continuous care due to the long clinical courses, may cause severe harm to the psychological well-being of a large population in the U.S. Providing convenient and affordable access to healthcare, online patient-provider communication (OPPC) is considered a potentially effective means in safeguarding psychological well-being among patients with chronic diseases. However, what underlying mechanism OPPC helps patients deal with psychological issues is largely unknown in the context of chronic diseases. Thus, drawing on the health communication pathway model, this study seeks to address the gap by investigating the psychological and behavioral mechanism of how OPPC alleviates psychological distress among patients with chronic diseases. Analyzing secondary data derived from the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS 5, Cycle 3, <i>N</i> = 879), this study reveals that OPPC can elicit perceptions of patient-centered communication (PCC) and facilitate patients to take adaptive coping strategies, including problem-oriented and emotion-oriented coping, thus alleviating psychological distress among patients with chronic diseases. However, only emotion-oriented coping in this process significantly reduces psychological distress. On this basis, this study advances the understanding of the therapeutic effect of OPPC among patients with chronic diseases and extends the health communication pathway model by examining the role of patient-provider communication in facilitating adaptive coping strategies.