Examining the causal role of physicians’ communication goals in patient outcomes

Past research finds that physicians' communication goals are correlated with patient outcomes. The present work experimentally investigates the effect of five physician communication goals-providing information, encouraging hope, promoting adherence, reducing distress, and increasing satisfaction-on patient outcomes following a hypothetical visit. In an online study, 991 adults watched a video of a physician and imagined they were in an office visit. Participants were randomly assigned to conditions in which the physician emphasized one of the five communication goals or no goal (control) before completing a survey. One-way ANOVAs revealed differences in service satisfaction (<i>F</i>(5,983) = 6.61, <i>p</i> < .001), perceived service quality (<i>F</i>(5,984) = 8.39, <i>p</i> < .001), adherence intentions (<i>F</i>(5,982) = 3.49, <i>p</i> = .004), liking of the physician (<i>F</i>(5,984) = 5.86, <i>p</i> < .001), and trust in the physician (<i>F</i>(5,984) = 5.52, <i>p</i> < .001) between conditions. Specifically, reducing distress produced better outcomes than most other goals, whereas increasing satisfaction consistently performed worse than other goals. Physicians' goals for healthcare interactions may have implications for patient outcomes.