Perception and experiences of a tribal community on health-care provider-patient communication

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the perception and experiences of a tribal community on health-care provider-patient communication and to find out the association between patients' place of seeking health-care and their socio-demographic characteristics. To see any differences between the government and private health-care providers in explaining treatment options and helping in their decision making. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between September 2008 and February 2010 at Komlathabi area of Chandel District, Manipur. All the eligible subjects were interviewed by using a structured questionnaire. An informed verbal consent was obtained from the participants before collecting the data. Results: Out of 1947 population above 18 years, 1800 completed the interview. A total of 1679 respondents had an illness in their families in the past 1 year. Older people above 60 years, illiterate and unemployed persons went to government health center more than home/private clinic (P = 0.001) when they got sick. More than half of the respondents (58.8%) were not explained of the treatment option with benefits and risks involved. Nearly, 76.3% of the respondents perceived that they should be involved in making a decision for the treatment and nearly 64% of them felt that health-care provider should not see patients at home or private clinics. The majority of government health-care providers (70.3%) did not explain about the treatment option to their clients and also did not take patients' opinion while arriving at treatment option (66.5%), which was found to be statistically significant. Conclusion: Private health-care providers explained more to their patients about the treatment options with the benefits and risks involved, and took patient's opinion while arriving at treatment option than the government health-care providers. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a good communication skill among all the physicians, more so among public sectors.