Table 2.

Physician Descriptions of Patients of Low Socioeconomic Status

Attributes	Examples of Descriptors Used by Physicians
Economic	Uninsured
	Unemployed
	On welfare
Sociocultural	Minority race or ethnicity
	Low educational achievement
	Poor social networks
Personality traits	Stoic
	Guarded or distrustful
	Appreciative
Life circumstances	Chaotic lives
	Involvement with substance abuse
	Difficulty with transportation
Attitude and knowledge about medicine	Poor health literacy
	Noncompliant
	Poor health behaviors
	Sicker or more acute visits
	Interested in health
Unable to characterize as a group	Everyone is different
	No general statement about them