An investigation of gendered patient-doctor interaction in UK primary health

Communication between patients and practitioners is a key component of healthcare. The quality of
patient-practitioner communication is integral in information gathering and giving, understanding the
perspective of the patient, building an effective relationship, and decision making. However,
communication patterns, i.e. verbal and non-verbal behaviour, vary across clinician groups and
healthcare settings, with evidence of implications for consultation and health. Despite evidence that
clinician and patient gender can influence communication in primary care consultations, and consultation
outcomes, there is currently limited research exploring how the influence of gender occurs and impacts
on consultations. This study aims to address this gap in knowledge by exploring how patient and doctor
gender influence verbal and non-verbal interactions in primary care consultations in the UK. A dataset of
video-recorded GP consultations and linked patient interviews is available for secondary analysis. Patient
interview data will be subjected to interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA), which seeks to
understand patient experience, gendered health beliefs and patterns of help-seeking. Recorded
consultations between GP and doctors will be subjected to Conversation Analysis (CA), which seeks to
identify communication patterns that differ with gender in both patients and doctors. It will also explore
the displays of concordance and discordance between GPs and patients, and whether this differs in
same-sex and different-sex dyads. The study will address how gender influences behaviour in primary
care consultations and how this can be improved to provide better quality of treatment and enrich the
health outcomes and wellbeing of individuals.