Table 6.
Summary statistics for the number of occurrences of communication behaviour per consultation within each RIAS code grouping according to consultation type: clinician assessments
| Communication behaviour, mean (median, IQR)a | FTFC | TC | VC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patient education and counselling | |||
| Provides biomedical information | 45.16 (44, 27–57) | 27.00b (22,b 9–36) | 28.71c (24,c 11–42) |
| Provides psychosocial information | 0.94 | 0.43 | 0.49 |
| Counsels biomedical | 10.18 (8, 1–15) | 9.06 (8, 2–11) | 9.24 (9, 3–14) |
| Counsels psychosocial | 0.08 | 0.23 | 0.11 |
| Total count | 56.35 (54, 32–80) | 36.72c (30,b 17–45) | 38.56c (38,d 17–55) |
|
| |||
| Data gathering | |||
| Open-ended biomedical questions | 4.90 (4, 2–7) | 3.47d (3,d 2–5) | 3.89 (3, 2–5) |
| Closed-ended biomedical questions | 7.43 (4, 2–9) | 3.72c (3, 1–5) | 4.13d (3, 2–5) |
| Open-ended psychological questions | 0.14 | 0.32 | 0.18 |
| Closed-ended psychological questions | 0 | 0.17 (0,d 0–0) | 0.29 d (0,d 0–0) |
| Bids for clarification | 0.55 (0, 0–1) | 0.53 (0, 0–1) | 0.42 |
| Total count | 13.02 (10, 6–17) | 8.21c (8, 4–11) | 8.91d (7, 5–11) |
|
| |||
| Rapport building | |||
| Personal remark | 1.14 (0, 0–2) | 2.81c (1, 0–5) | 3.24c (2, 0–6) |
| Laughter/tells joke | 0.49 | 0.17 | 0.18 |
| Approval | 0.02 | 0.19 | 0.04 |
| Empathy | 0.31 | 0.06 | 0.07 |
| Legitimate | 0.18 | 0.02 (0,d 0–0) | 0d (0,d 0–0) |
| Concern | 0.39 | 0.25 | 0.11 (0,d 0–0) |
| Reassure | 0.80 (0, 0–1) | 1.17 (0, 0–2) | 0.80 (0, 0–1) |
| Total count | 3.33 (2, 1–4) | 4.66d (4,d 2–7) | 4.44 (1–7) |
|
| |||
| Partnership building | |||
| Paraphrase, checks understandinge | 0.45 | 0.23 (0, 0–0) | 0.16 (0,c 0–0) |
| Verbal attention, shows partnership support | 3.39 (1, 0–6) | 2.21 (0, 0–5) | 1.67 d (0,d 0–2) |
| Asking clarification, bids for repetition | 0.22 | 0.34 | 0.16 |
| Asking clarification, asks for understanding | 0.18 | 0.06 | 0.09 |
| Asking clarification, asks for opinion | 0.16 | 0.13 | 0.18 |
| Total count | 4.39 (3, 0–6) | 2.96 (1, 0–5) | 2.24d (0, 0–3) |
|
| |||
| Disagreement | |||
| Disagreement, shows direct disapproval | 0.04 | 0 | 0 |
| Disagreement, shows criticism in general | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total count | 0.04 | 0 | 0 |
|
| |||
| Giving direction | |||
| Giving directions, transition, for example, request to allow examination | 0.18 | 0 (0,d 0–0) | 0.09 |
| Giving directions, gives orientation instructions, for example, go to examination couch | 4.45 (3, 0–7) | 2.87 (0, 0–5) | 2.11d (0,d 0–4) |
| Total count | 4.63 (3, 0–7) | 2.87 (0, 0–5) | 2.20d (0,d 0–4) |
a
(Median, IQR) are (0, 0–0) if not shown. Statistical significance calculated based on two sample t-tests for TC/VC compared with FTFC (median tests are in brackets):
b
P<0.001,
c
P<0.01,
d
P<0.05.
e
There were no significant differences between VC and TC except for partnership building: paraphrase, checks understanding (median test P=0.02, higher frequency above the overall median for telephone. FTFC = face-to-face consultation. IQR = interquartile range. RIAS = Roter Interaction Analysis System. TC = telephone consultation. VC = video consultation.