Abstract

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Title:: Doctor-Patient Trust in Contemporary China:Characteristics, Current Situation and Research Prospects

Keywords:: doctor-patient trust; doctor-patient relationship; doctors’ trust; patients’ trust; trust repair

Abstract:: The doctor-patient trust in China is highly relationship-oriented and doctors are usually expected to play authoritative roles. There are big gaps in doctor-patient trust between different departments within the same hospital; between hospitals at different levels; and between rural and urban hospitals. In recent years, the trust between doctors and patients has been declining, as evidenced by among others the increase of doctor-patient disputes and the violence arising therefrom, the decrease in the number of patients who are satisfied with the medical services and the deterioration in the mutual assessment and trust between doctors and patients. Previous studies focused on the impacts of individual factors on doctor-patient trust, such as the demographic characteristics and psychological contracts of patients, the personality traits of medical workers, and also noted the effect of doctor-patient trust on their attitudes, behaviors and clinical efficacy. However, the social psychological mechanism of doctor-patient trust crisis, the procedural mechanism of building and maintaining doctor-patient trust are still not clear. Meanwhile, the situation assessment and the current index system of doctor-patient trust are not sound enough, and the experimental design of the behavioral decisions in the doctor-patient trust relationship studies still needs to be strengthened.