Doctor-Patient Communication Styles: A Comparison Between the United States and Three Asian Countries

This article compares the doctor-patient communication styles of the United States with those of three Asian countries: Pakistan, Japan, and Thailand. Based on intercultural comparisons drawn between those countries, this analysis reveals that, overall, the United States has very little in common wi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of human behavior in the social environment 2015-11, Vol.25 (8), p.871-884
Main Authors: Matusitz, Jonathan, Spear, Jennifer
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asia
Communication
Cross cultural studies
culture
decision making
doctor-patient communication
health
interaction
Japan
Pakistan
Physician patient relationships
relationship
talk
Thailand
United States
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Summary:This article compares the doctor-patient communication styles of the United States with those of three Asian countries: Pakistan, Japan, and Thailand. Based on intercultural comparisons drawn between those countries, this analysis reveals that, overall, the United States has very little in common with the philosophical, cultural, societal, and communicative approaches to the traditional doctor-patient communication styles used in these three Asian nations. However, major similarities have been found across all three Asian nations. Although the doctor-patient relationship has been studied extensively in the United States and most of the Western world, rarely do those studies integrate, concurrently within their doctor-patient communication framework, dimensions such as power distance, individualism-collectivism, and communication styles. These are three important concepts in this analysis; they improve our understanding of what constitutes effective doctor-patient communication across dissimilar cultures.
ISSN:1091-1359
1540-3556
DOI:10.1080/10911359.2015.1035148