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. 2018 Dec 12;13(12):e0207394.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0207394. eCollection 2018.

Exploring the influence of resiliency on physician trust in patients: An empirical study of Chinese incidents

Jiangjie Sun  1 , Liping Zhang  2 , Ruochuan Sun  3 , Yuanyuan Jiang  2 , Xiuyun Chen  4 , Chengsen He  2 , Jiuchang Wei  5
Affiliations

Exploring the influence of resiliency on physician trust in patients: An empirical study of Chinese incidents

Jiangjie Sun et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: The tension in doctor-patient relationships is becoming progressively greater due to the high expectations of patients and the physicians' work pressure. Recent studies have addressed factors which affect the tension of doctor-patient relationships, and our study continues this trend by looking at the influence of resiliency and physician trust in the patient (PTP), that is, how much the doctor trusts the patient.

Methods: Based on a survey of 329 physicians, a descriptive analysis of measured data was done using SPSS 19.0. Pearson correlation coefficient analysis was used to examine the correlation between PTP and resilience and the demographic variables. KMO and Bartlett methods were used to examine the correlation between PTPS and resilience. The method of factor analysis was used for multicollinearity tests, and multiple stepwise regression analysis was used to explore the demographic factors correlated with PTP and resilience.

Result: Our results indicate that the level of PTP is influenced by the age, education, and income of the doctors. Physician age and income are significantly and positively correlated with PTP, but education is significantly and negatively related. Age, education, and income also affect the level of psychological resilience of physicians. Resilience is positively correlated with age and education but is negatively related to income. Resilience positively influences PTP.

Conclusion: The direct factors of PTP include resilience, age, education, and income, while gender, title, and hospital department were found to be indirect influencing factors. To meet goals expressed in Chinese government policy related to these issues, we suggest improving the level of education of the doctors, providing reasonable annual salary increases for doctors, easing the tensions involved in medical treatment, reducing the physicians' work pressure, improving the physicians' work environment, and enhancing the physicians' professional sympathy. Through such measures, the level of PTP will be enhanced.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Map of anhui province in China.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Quantity and distribution of physician/patient clashes in 2016.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Publication types

Grants and funding

The work was supported in part by the National Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science 14BGL141 to Chengsen He; Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin Municipal Science and Technology Commission (CN) 11601001 to Jiuchang Wei; Excellent Young Talents Fund Program of Higher Education Institutions of Anhui Province (CN) KJ2016A369, KJ2016A368 and KJ2016A372 to Jiangjie Sun; Humanities and Social Science Research Projects of Key Base in Sichuan Provincial SCYG2018-10 to Jiangjie Sun.