Discussing diseases in everyday talk: Examining the roles of medical and phatic patient-provider communication in promoting Chinese patients' healthy lifestyle behaviors.

Abstract

Previous patient-provider communication (PPC) research has focused on treatment or illness-centered medical PPC but has overlooked phatic PPC. Based on the ecological model of communication in medical encounters, this study examines how medical PPC and phatic PPC relate to patients' healthy lifestyle behaviors through perceived patient-centeredness and patient activation. Cross-sectional data from one representative sample of Chinese patients (N = 5000) were analyzed. Medical PPC was positively associated with perceived patient-centeredness (β =.204, p < .001), which in turn was positively associated with patient activation (β =.405, p < .001) and healthier lifestyle behaviors. Phatic PPC showed a small negative direct association with patient-centeredness (β = -.056, p < .05), but it positively moderated the relationship between medical PPC and patient-centeredness (b =.030, p < .01). By testing a moderated mediation model, the study demonstrates the complementary role of phatic PPC for medical PPC and elucidates how these two functionally distinct forms of PPC jointly promote healthy lifestyle behaviors. Healthcare providers should be trained to strategically integrate medical and phatic PPC, using brief relational cues to build supportive patient-centered care without compromising the efficiency of medical communication.