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.