The role of gender and status in communication between doctors and patients in malaysian contexts

Abstract

This study investigates the ways in which gender and status of doctors and patients influence the effectiveness of communication in sustainable health development among Malaysians. In order to conduct this research, we look at the interruption patterns in doctor-patient interaction because interruption provides an opportunity for interactants to dominate the conversation which can have negative effects on the treatment and consultation process. The data consists of 480 minutes of recorded conversations between doctors and patients of both genders during 160 consultation visits. We have used both quantitative and qualitative methods to analyse our data. Conversation analysis has also been used to evaluate the linguistic elements in their talk. The findings indicate that the gender of the interactants has effects on the interruption they make. It appears that male interactants in this study, regardless of their status as a doctor or patient, have the tendency to make intrusive interruptions more than female interactants. In addition, the status of the interactants was a determining factor in the interruption process. Doctors, holding a higher status at the time of consultation, made more intrusive interruptions and patients made more cooperative interruptions. However, based on the analysis, male doctors were more cooperative with their male patients than with their female patients which indicate that male doctors practised discrimination unintentionally. On the other hand, female doctors treated patients of both genders in the same manner. Based on our findings, listening skills and communication training for doctors can minimise miscommunication during consultation visits and enhance healthcare quality which ultimately assists to achieve sustainable health development goals.