Table 1.
Patient and family companion characteristics by family companion behaviours during medical visits
| Patient characteristics | Total sample | Autonomy enhancing – companion facilitates | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doctor understanding | Patient understanding | Patient involvement | Autonomy detracting | ||
| Sample, number (%) | 78 (100.0%) | 65 (83.3%) | 44 (56.4%) | 31 (39.7%) | 34 (43.6%) |
| Mean age (years) | 77.6 | 77.4 | 78.9 | 77.8 | 79.0 |
| Gender | |||||
| Female | 56 (71.8%) | 47 (83.9%) | 32 (57.1%) | 25 (44.6%) | 21 (37.5%) a |
| Male | 22 (28.2%) | 18 (81.8%) | 12 (54.6%) | 6 (27.3%) | 13 (59.1%) a |
| Race | |||||
| White | 64 (82.1%) | 55 (85.9%) | 36 (56.3%) | 27 (42.2%) | 27 (42.2%) |
| Other | 14 (17.9%) | 10 (71.4%) | 8 (57.1%) | 4 (28.6%) | 7 (50.0%) |
| Education | |||||
| <High school | 31 (39.7%) | 26 (83.9%) | 17 (54.8%) | 11 (35.5%) | 13 (41.9%) |
| High school or more | 47 (60.3%) | 39 (83.0%) | 27 (57.5%) | 20 (42.6%) | 21 (44.7%) |
| Mental health function | |||||
| MCS < 53 | 41 (52.6%) | 34 (82.9%) | 23 (56.1%) | 20 (48.8%) | 21 (51.2%) |
| MCS 53+ | 37 (47.4%) | 31 (83.8%) | 21 (56.8%) | 11 (29.7%) | 13 (35.1%) |
| Physical health function | |||||
| PCS < 35 | 42 (53.9%) | 37 (88.1%) | 25 (59.5%) | 18 (42.9%) | 16 (38.1%) a |
| PCS 35+ | 36 (46.2%) | 28 (77.8%) | 19 (52.8%) | 13 (36.1%) | 18 (50.0%) a |
a
P < 0.05 in regression models that accounted for companion relationship to patient as well as physician clustering.
Autonomy detracting refers to alliance‐building and controlling behaviours towards the patient Short‐Form 36‐Item General Health Survey – MCS, Mental Component Summary Score; PCS, Physical Component Summary Score.