Investigation of the relationship between patient-physician communication and health perception: The case of Istanbul province

There are problems in the interaction between doctors and patients that often arise, such as difficulties in communication. These issues can negatively impact patients' adherence to health care, which can compromise their overall health. Therefore, it is aimed to investigate different factors that may affect patient loyalty, including the demographic characteristics of both physicians and patients. The universe of the study consists of Beylikdüzü and Avcılar districts from the central districts of Istanbul. When county populations are taken into account, stratified random sampling of sample types is used. The universe of the study was conducted face-to-face on 401 patients from eight hospitals over the number of participants, including 5-part Likert format questionnaires in full. The study used two scales, the Perceived Effectiveness in Patient-Physician Interactions (PEPPI) Scale and the Health Perception Scale, to measure the perceived effect on patient-physician interaction, patient adherence, treatment service quality and interpersonal service quality. The reliability of the scales used in the study was also determined and factor, data, correlation and regression analyzes were performed. The data obtained in the study were analyzed with SPSS 25.0 version package program. This analysis involves the determination of various values, such as percentage distributions of demographic characteristics and the calculation of arithmetic averages. According to the study findings, when demographic variables were compared according to the scores obtained from the Patient-Physician Communication Scale, no statistically significant difference was found when the perceived effect on patient-physician interactions was examined in terms of gender, marital status, physician's gender, age group, monthly income status, and education status variables. In addition, according to the scores obtained from the Patient-Physician Communication Scale, there was no statistically significant difference in terms of the frequency of going to the hospital, the hospital status where the last service was received, and the reason for preferring the last hospital to go to. According to the results obtained from the study findings, according to the scores obtained from the Health Perception Scale and its sub-dimensions, no statistically significant difference was found in terms of gender, marital status, gender of the physician, age groups, monthly income, education status, frequency of going to the hospital, hospital status where the last service was received, and the reason for preference of the hospital. The correlation coefficients were found to be statistically significant for the relationship between the Health Perception Scale, self-awareness and importance of health sub-dimensions and the Patient-Physician Communication Scale. It is seen that there is a positive relationship between the variables. In this case, when there is an increase in one of the variables, it is expected that the other will also increase. The research suggests that improving doctor-patient interaction may be a useful tool in increasing physician and hospital engagement. In order to increase their level of commitment in the competitive health sector, it is recommended that physicians increase their communication abilities in medical education and in the working environment.