THURSDAY, July 29 (HealthDay News) -- Physicians do not appear to be good judges of their patients' health beliefs, but they have a stronger understanding of patients' beliefs when patients take a more active role in the office visit, according to a study published online July 23 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

In a cross-sectional, observational study, Richard L. Street Jr., Ph.D., of Texas A&M University in College Station, and Paul Haidet, M.D., of the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine in Hershey, evaluated 207 patients and 29 primary care physicians (41 percent Asian, 28 percent African-American, 31 percent white; 40 percent female) from 10 outpatient clinics to examine physician understanding of their patients' health beliefs and values. The researchers used the CONNECT instrument, which measures various domains of patients' and physicians' health beliefs.

The researchers found that physicians' perceptions of their patients' health beliefs differed significantly from patients' actual beliefs, with physicians also believing that patients' beliefs were more in line with their own beliefs. Physicians were poorer judges of patients' beliefs when patients were African-American (P = 0.013), Hispanic (P = 0.075), or of a difference race (P = 0.024). However, physicians had a better understanding of how much patients believed their health conditions had personal meaning, would benefit from natural remedies (P = 0.049), and could be controlled by the patient, as well as the degree to which the patient wanted a partnership with the doctor, when patients more frequently asked questions, expressed concerns, and gave opinions.

"Physicians were not good judges of patients' health beliefs, but had a substantially better understanding when patients more actively participated in the consultation," the authors write.

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