Impact of Gender on Doctor-Patient Communication and Emotion: Exploratory Analysis

Abstract

Doctor-patient communication is one of the essential precursors of patient-centered care. The quality of this communication is influenced by several factors, including providers' communication style and the use of existing technologies. In our previous studies, we measured the impact of health information technology on doctor-patient communication. In this study, we used sentiment analysis to understand the impact of doctor-patient gender dyads on verbal communication. The findings showed a noticeable difference in the communication pattern between the same (concordance) and opposite gender dyads (discordance). The findings of this study also indicate that male doctors tend to talk more and in detail with their patients ( $p= 0.01$ for gender concordance; $p=0.01$ during gender discordance) than female doctors did with their patients ( $p=0.33$ for gender concordance; $p=0.41$ during gender discordance), irrespective of doctor-patient gender dyads. No significant differences were observed in doctor-patient sentiments and emotions. However, we observed more trust in gender concordance (20.9% & 17.6% of the time). In contrast, gender discordance resulted in more sadness (15.5% & 19.8% of the time), anticipation (17.3%), and joy (16.1% of the time). In conclusion, our study indicates that gender influences doctor-patient verbal communication. Further research with larger sample size is required to thoroughly understand the role of gender in overall healthcare communication.