Table 1.

Description of variables used to measure physicians’ patient engagement

Variable	Variable Description	Scoring rubric	Transcript example
Eliciting Patient Perspectives	Physician asked the patient how psychosocial/medical disease/concerns affected the patient's life?	5: Physician attempts to determine in detail/shows great interest in how the disease/concern is affecting the patient's lifestyle	MD: …but one of the things I think it would     be good for us to talk about, you know,     down the line is how you’re dealing with     the stress of your parents, because that     can directly affect some of these other     things you’re talking about.
		3: Physician attempts to determine briefly/shows only some interest in how the disease/concern is affecting the patient's lifestyle	MD: Any pain in your joints or night cramps     or anything? PT: Yeah, pain in the joints. Come on, doc. MD: [laughs] I got, I got that too. PT: Follow me one week when I’m running,     yeah.
		1: Physician makes no attempt to determine/shows no interest in how the disease/concern is affecting the patient's lifestyle	MD: I’m almost up to 40 [supplements].     What, what about if these interact in     your body together to produce toxic     effects? PT: That’s why I’ve got a list. MD: Honestly, I think you could stop them     all.
Expressing Empathy	Physician verbally expresses empathy or sympathy for any psychosocial concerns (distinct expressions such as "I'm so sorry to hear that"; "That must be hard")	5: Physician makes comments clearly indicating acceptance/validation of patient's feelings (e.g., "I'd feel the same way‥", "I can see how that would worry you… ")	PT: I’ve just had a full plate MD: Yeah. Absolutely PT: My mom couldn’t drive for a while and it’s just ohh, so, but now everything, and even with my arm I can’t deal with it, you know. Man, that’s a lot! MD: Yeah, that’s a lot.
		3: Physician briefly acknowledges patient's feelings but makes no effort to indicate acceptance/validation	MD: How long has she been a diabetic? PT: Since she was eight. MD: Oh, okay. I’m sorry to hear that.
		1: Physician makes no attempt to respond to/validate the patient's feelings or possibly belittles or challenges them	PT: The only thing is Alzheimer’s, which is my big concern. MD: She put that in there, who has that, or who had it? PT: My mother and, uh, three of her siblings out of nine. MD: Okay. So three aunts and, as you know, there’s not much we can do about that at this point.

Source: Variables and scoring rubrics were adapted from Krupat et al [16].