Rosu Claudia A.: Race and Patient Perception of Interpersona

Black women have the greatest mortality from breast
cancer despite greater incidence of the disease among
White women. Additionally, they are more likely to be
diagnosed at late stages, although early detection
through screening is widely available. Patients
demographics, socioeconomic and health insurance
status, or psychosocial characteristics do not fully
explain the discrepancies. This led to the hypothesis
that the interpersonal processes of care-social and
psychological aspects of physician/patient
interactions involving communication, decision
making, and interpersonal skills-also contributed to
the differences. Because primary care providers play
a major role in cancer prevention and screening, the
present study explored patients perception of
interpersonal processes of care with regard to their
primary care providers. Semi-structured interviews
were conducted with 80 Black and White women
diagnosed with breast cancer, using an instrument
developed by Stewart and colleagues. Descriptive,
bivariate and multivariate probit analyses were
conducted as well as a confirmatory factor analysis.
This book will be most useful for health policy
students, researchers, and clinicians.