RACE, GENDER AND HEALTH LITERACY IN THE MEDICAL ENCOUNTER: A TEST OF CULTURAL HEALTH CAPITAL AND STATUS CHARACTERISTICS THEORY

Abstract

The doctor-patient relationship is a form of social support that influences patients’ health. Doctor-patient communication impacts doctor-patient relationships and ultimately patients’ health outcomes. Physicians’ communication styles have been shown to vary based on certain patient characteristics. The variation in communication styles may lead to health disparities by way of communication inequalities between provider and patient. Using Cultural Health Capital (CHC) and Status Characteristics Theory (SCT), we examine what elements most influence a patient-centered medical encounter. The research question guiding this study are: Do patients’ cultural health capital influence the type of encounter that he or she experiences more or less than his or her status characteristic? Using a sample of 121 patients and seventeen (17) physicians from a family medical group, we perform binary logistic regression to test these research questions. Our results suggest that as race status characteristic differences increase between doctor and patient, the likelihood of patient-centered encounters occurring, decrease. Furthermore, our results suggest that lower health-literate patients are more likely to experience patient-centered encounters. Key words: cultural health capital, cultural capital, status characteristics theory, doctor-patient relationships, doctor-patient interactions, medical visit, medical encounter, health literacy, and paternalism.