BACKGROUND: Smoking cessation interventions requires attending to the circumstances and needs of individual patients. We aimed at highlighting the discordances between patients\' and physicians\' perspectives on contextual factors that should be considered during smoking cessation.
METHODS: We identified 36 contextual factors identified that should be considered during smoking cessation using PubMed and interviewing general practitioners. Physicians recruited through social networks campaigns and smoker or former smoker patients from the ComPaRe cohort selected the factors they considered most relevant in two online paired comparison experiment. Bradley Terry Luce models estimated the ability of each factor (i.e. the probability to be preferred). We calculated the Pearson\'s correlation and the intraclass correlation coefficients for the contextual factor from each perspective and compared the ranking of the 10 contextual factors with the highest abilities.
RESULTS: Seven hundred and ninety-three patients\' and 795 physicians\' perspectives estimated the ability (i.e., importance) of the contextual factors in 11 963 paired comparisons. We found a high correlation between physicians\' and patients\' perspectives of the contextual factors to be considered for smoking cessation (r = 0.76, P < 0.0001). However, the agreement between the abilities of contextual factors was poor (ICC = 0.42 [-0.10; 0.75]; P = 0.09). Fine-grain analysis of participants\' answers revealed many discrepancies. For example, 40% factors ranked in the top 10 most important for physicians were not in patients\' top 10 ranking.
CONCLUSIONS: Our results highlight the importance of patient-centered care, the need to engage discussions about patients\' values, beyond what is thought to be important, to avoid overlooking their real context.

The principle of non-directiveness remains an important tenet in genetics. However, the concept has encountered growing criticism over the last two decades. There is an ongoing discussion about its appropriateness for specific situations in genetics, especially in light of recent significant advancements in genetic medicine. Despite the debate surrounding non-directiveness, there is a notable lack of up-to-date international research empirically investigating the issue from the perspective of those who actually do genetic counselling. Addressing this gap, our article delves into the viewpoints and experiences of medical geneticists in Germany and Switzerland. Twenty qualitative interviews were analysed employing reflexive thematic analysis. Participants\' responses revealed substantial uncertainties and divergences in their understanding and application of the concept. It seems to cause distress since many geneticists stated that the principle was difficult to put into clinical practice and was no longer ethically justified given the increasing likelihood of therapeutic implications resulting from genomic testing outcomes. The insights provided by our qualitative empirical study accord with the ongoing theoretical debate regarding the definition, legitimacy, and feasibility of the principle. An adequately nuanced understanding and application of non-directiveness seems crucial to circumvent the risks inherent in the principle, while promoting patient autonomy and beneficence.

OBJECTIVE: Effective communication between cancer patients and providers is critical for addressing psychological distress, reducing uncertainty, and promoting patient well-being. This is particularly relevant during medical appointments that may elicit uncertainty, such as surgical consultations for newly diagnosed women with breast cancer. This study aimed to evaluate how pre-appointment anxiety and illness uncertainty affect patient-provider communication in breast cancer surgical consultations and subsequent post-appointment well-being. Breast cancer patient anxiety has been studied as an outcome of provider communication, though less is known about the extent to which preexisting anxiety or uncertainty act as antecedents to effective patient-provider communication.
METHODS: This study analyzed videorecorded breast cancer surgical consultations (N = 51) and corresponding patient surveys to understand how pre-appointment anxiety influences pre-appointment patient uncertainty, patient-provider communication during the appointment, and subsequent post-appointment uncertainty.
RESULTS: The proposed model achieved good fit to the data such that more pre-appointment anxiety was associated with more pre-appointment uncertainty, more pre-appointment anxiety was associated with more empathic opportunities per minute, and more empathic opportunities were associated with less post-appointment uncertainty.
CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate breast cancer patients with anxiety pre-appointment are at-risk for more illness uncertainty and are more likely to explicitly provide empathic opportunities. This supports the need for added attention to empathic opportunities to not only address patients emotionally but to also assess whether a patient may be at higher risk of having preexisting anxiety.

OBJECTIVE: Educational approaches for training physicians in clinical communications vary, and whether physicians apply the communication skills they learn or find them useful in the clinic is not well known. The aim of this study was to determine how first-year residents who received explicit instruction in 7 communication strategies would apply them in a simulation exercise and in clinical practice.
METHODS: First-year Internal Medicine residents at an urban teaching hospital received instruction in 7 systematic communication strategies: Ask-Tell-Ask, Teach-back, open-ended questioning, NURSE, open body language, pausing, and plain language. Residents were evaluated on their use of specific communication behaviors associated with the 7 strategies during a simulation exercise of disclosing a medical error to a standardized patient. Control group residents who did the simulation before attending the training program and training group residents who did the simulation after the training were compared. Residents were queried 6 months after the training program on their use of communication strategies during clinical practice.
RESULTS: A total of 27 residents participated (n = 13 control group; n = 14 training group). The training group performed behaviors for \"establishing patient understanding\" significantly more often than the control group. Both groups used non-verbal communication and behaviors for addressing patient emotions at similar levels. Of the 24 residents who responded to the 6-month follow-up questionnaire, 24 (100%) reported using Ask-Tell-Ask, open-ended questioning, and Teach-back, and 22 (92%) reported using NURSE statements and non-verbal communication. Most respondents reported using the strategies in clinical practice often or very often (79%) and found the strategies useful or very useful (96%).
CONCLUSIONS: Providing explicit instruction in systematic communication strategies, particularly those focused on establishing patient understanding, may be an efficient approach for helping early career physicians develop effective communication skills that can be readily implemented during clinical training and practice.

With a growing 25.5 million people in the United States experiencing limited-English proficiency (LEP), there is a concern over these individuals\' experiences in healthcare. Health outcomes of LEP status are well-documented for adults in hospitals; however, less is known about patient experience, pediatric populations, and primary care settings. This study investigated differences in caregiver satisfaction between families with and without LEP receiving healthcare for their child. A sample of 25,118 caregivers whose children from birth to 17 years had met with any healthcare providers in the past year was used. Analyses consisted of unpaired t-tests comparing mean satisfaction of LEP and English-proficient (EP) caregivers in the domains of how often primary healthcare providers spent enough time with the child, listened, provided specific information, demonstrated sensitivity to the family\'s values, and made the respondent feel like a partner. In all aspects of caregiver satisfaction, mean satisfaction scores were significantly lower for LEP caregivers than EP caregivers. The largest drops were seen in perceived time and sensitivity. These results highlight a need to ensure LEP families receive equitable and high-quality primary care services, ultimately building trust in the healthcare system and improving children\'s health and well-being.

BACKGROUND: Patient adherence to maintenance medication is critical for improving clinical outcomes in asthma and is a recommended guiding factor for treatment strategy. Previously, the APPaRENT studies assessed patient and physician perspectives on asthma care; here, a post-hoc analysis aimed to identify patient factors associated with good adherence and treatment prescription patterns.
METHODS: APPaRENT 1 and 2 were cross-sectional online surveys of 2866 adults with asthma and 1883 physicians across Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Italy, Mexico, and the Philippines in 2020-2021. Combined data assessed adherence to maintenance medication, treatment goals, use of asthma action plans, and physician treatment patterns and preferences. Multivariable logistic regression models assessed associations between patient characteristics and both treatment prescription (by physicians) and patient treatment adherence.
RESULTS: Patient and physician assessments of treatment goals and adherence differed, as did reporting of short-acting β2-agonist (SABA) prescriptions alongside maintenance and reliever therapy (MART). Older age and greater patient-reported severity and reliever use were associated with better adherence. Patient-reported prescription of SABA with MART was associated with household smoking, severe or poorly controlled asthma, and living in China or the Philippines.
CONCLUSIONS: Results revealed an important disconnect between patient and physician treatment goals and treatment adherence, suggesting that strategies for improving patient adherence to maintenance medication are needed, focusing on younger patients with milder disease. High reliever use despite good adherence may indicate poor disease control. Personalised care considering patient characteristics alongside physician training in motivational communication and shared decision-making could improve patient management and outcomes.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate effects of prognostic communication strategies on emotions, coping, and appreciation of consultations in advanced cancer.
METHODS: For this experimental study, we created 8 videos of a scripted oncological consultation, only varying in prognostic communication strategies. Disease-naive individuals (n = 1036) completed surveys before and after watching 1 video, while imagining being the depicted cancer patient. We investigated effects of the type of disclosure (prognostic disclosure vs. communication of unpredictability vs. non-disclosure) and content of disclosure (standard vs. standard and best-case vs. standard, best- and worst-case survival scenarios; numerical vs. word-based estimates) on emotions, coping, and appreciation of consultations. Moderating effects of individual characteristics were tested.
RESULTS: Participants generally reported more satisfaction (p < .001) after prognostic disclosure versus communication of unpredictability and less uncertainty (p = .042), more satisfaction (p = .005), and more desirability (p = .016) regarding prognostic information after numerical versus word-based estimates. Effects of different survival scenarios were absent. Prognostic communication strategies lacked effects on emotions and coping. Significant moderators included prognostic information preference and uncertainty tolerance.
CONCLUSIONS: In an experimental setting, prognostic disclosure does not cause more negative emotions than non-disclosure and numerical estimates are more strongly appreciated than words. Oncologists\' worries about harming patients should not preclude disclosing (precise) prognostic information, yet sensitivity to individual preferences and characteristics remains pivotal.

Objective: To evaluate the extent to which personal well-being may be associated with empathy, while controlling for potential confounders. Settings/Location: Residency programs throughout the United States. Subjects: A total of 407 medical residents from residencies including general medicine, surgery, specialized and diagnostic medicine participated in this study. Outcome Measures: Well-being was measured using the modified existential well-being subscale of the spiritual well-being scale. Empathy was measured using the Jefferson Scale of Empathy. Results: Well-being was found to be positively correlated with empathy when adjusted for possible confounders (p < 0.001). In addition to well-being, other factors noted to be statistically significant contributors to higher empathy scores while controlling for the others included age, gender, year in residency, specialty, and work-hours (p < 0.05 for each). After controlling for these factors, a resident\'s year in residency was not found to be a statistically significant contributor to empathy score. Conclusions: In this study, well-being was associated with empathy in medical and surgical residents. Empathy is a fundamental component of physician competency, and its development is an essential aspect of medical training. These findings suggest that efforts to increase well-being may promote empathy among medical residents.

OBJECTIVE: Clinical work-integrating care (CWIC) refers to paying attention to work participation in a clinical setting. Working patients may benefit from CWIC. The purpose of this study is to explore the extent and nature to which medical specialists provide CWIC and what policies and guidelines oblige or recommend specialists to do.
METHODS: A scoping review was conducted. The databases MEDLINE, EMBASE, Psychinfo, CINAHL, and Web of Science were searched for studies on the extent and nature of CWIC and supplemented by gray literature on policies and guidelines. Six main categories were defined a priori. Applying a meta-aggregative approach, subcategories were subsequently defined using qualitative data. Next, quantitative findings were integrated into these subcategories. A separate narrative of policies and guidelines using the same main categories was constructed.
RESULTS: In total, 70 studies and 55 gray literature documents were included. The main findings per category were as follows: (1) collecting data on the occupation of patients varied widely; (2) most specialists did not routinely discuss work, but recent studies showed an increasing tendency to do so, which corresponds to recent policies and guidelines; (3) work-related advice ranged from general advice to patient-physician collaboration about work-related decisions; (4) CWIC was driven by legislation in many countries; (5) specialists sometimes collaborated in multidisciplinary teams to provide CWIC; and (6) medical guidelines regarding CWIC were generally not available.
CONCLUSIONS: Medical specialists provide a wide variety of CWIC ranging from assessing a patient\'s occupation to extensive collaboration with patients and other professionals to support work participation. Lack of medical guidelines could explain the variety of these practices.

BACKGROUND: In a therapeutic partnership, physicians rely on patients to describe their health conditions, join in shared decision-making, and engage with supported self-management activities. In shared care, the patient, primary care, and specialist services partner together using agreed processes and outputs for the patient to be placed at the centre of their care. However, few empirical studies have explored physicians\' trust in patients and its implications for shared care models.
OBJECTIVE: To explore trust in patients amongst general practitioners (GPs), and the impacts of trust on GPs\' willingness to engage in new models of care, such as colorectal cancer shared care.
METHODS: GP participants were recruited through professional networks for semi-structured interviews. Transcripts were integrity checked, coded inductively, and themes developed iteratively.
RESULTS: Twenty-five interviews were analysed. Some GPs view trust as a responsibility of the physician and have a high propensity for trusting patients. For other GPs, trust in patients is developed over successive consultations based on patient characteristics such as honesty, reliability, and proactivity in self-care. GPs were more willing to engage in colorectal cancer shared care with patients with whom they have a developed, trusting relationship.
CONCLUSIONS: Trust plays a significant role in the patient\'s access to shared care. The implementation of shared care should consider the relational dynamics between the patient and health care providers.
In a therapeutic partnership, physicians rely on patients to describe their health conditions, join in shared decision-making and engage with supported self-management activities. In shared care, the patient, primary care, and specialist services partner together using agreed processes and outputs for the patient to be placed at the centre of their care. Trust is key to this partnership. However, few studies have explored the physicians’ trust in patients and its implications for shared care models. This study aims to explore trust in patients amongst general practitioners (GPs), and the impacts of trust on GPs’ willingness to engage in new models of care, such as colorectal cancer shared care. After analysing 25 interview transcripts with GPs, we found some GPs view trust as a responsibility of the physicians, while in others, trust in patients developed over successive consultations based on patient characteristics such as honesty, reliability, and proactivity in self-care. GPs were more willing to engage in colorectal cancer shared care with patients whom they have a developed, trusting relationship. Trust plays a significant role in the patient’s access to shared care. The rollout of shared care should consider the relational dynamics between the patient and health care providers.