Communications Skills Used by Mental Health Professionals

Abstract

Gooddoctor-patient communication has been shown to have a positive impact on anumber of health outcomes in previous studies. to assess the communications skills used by mentalhealth professionals(MHP). This study explore the impact of clinical factors relatedMHP (communications skills) may have on treatment adherence of patients withmental health disorders (MHD). In this crosssectional study we use a convenience sample of patients with MHD attending inthe mental health departments of three general hospitals in Lisbon greatarea. Data is being collected through individual interviews. We have appliedclinical and socio-demographic questionnaire and additional measures to assesssymptom severity, treatment adherence and attitudes towards medication. For MHP we used a optimism scale (ETOS) and Medication Alliance Beliefs Questionnaire (MABQ. Two conveniencesamples were composed by 121 patients(mean age= 39.8; SD± 9.3) with MHDand 60 MHP (mean age 37.0; sd 8.4)working in a varietyof settings is being collected.69.4%(84) of patients said that MHP did notspoke about the way to deal with the possible side effects ofmedications and only 20%(12) of MHP, said that have a specific training incommunication skills. Communication skills should be improved andphysicians should take a more active role in improving patient treatment adherence. Do not just prescribe medication, it is necessary to adapt the treatment to theprofile and characteristics of each patient, assessing risk factors andfacilitate the clarification of doubts. Successful collaboration requirestailoring strategies to individual patients rather than basing communication ongeneral assumptions.