Analyzing the Impact of Economic Shock Due to Corona Viral Disease -19 on Consumer Behavior Pattern: A Cross Sectional Study Conducted in Delhi and National Capital Region

Abstract

The main arena for medical communication can be most comprehensively viewed in terms of the doctor-patient relationship. The relationship between the patient and the doctor provides the foundations for establishing trust, rapport and understanding, explaining diagnoses, discussing prognoses, and negotiating treatment. The ways the doctor and patient use language to convey their perspectives determine how the patient’s problem is understood, as well as shaping the relationship, which can have a therapeutic value in its own right. Although there are earlier references to the nature and evolution of the relationship between patient and doctor, the 1950s saw the start of a growing body of cross-disciplinary work to develop theoretical underpinnings of the patient-professional relationship, to produce insights into uses of language in the healthcare consultation, and to engage professionals and the public in debates to promote ‘good’ consulting behaviours and to involve patients and enable their voices to be heard. Several strands of work developed in parallel: the therapeutic nature of the doctor-patient relationship (Balint 1957); consultation activities and doctors’ consulting behaviours (Byrne and Long 1976); the concept of biopsychosocial medicine (Engel 1977); ethnographic observations of healthcare settings (e.g. Sudnow 1967). Balint’s (1957) work introduced the psychosocial element into understanding patients’ pro-blems. Drawing on psychotherapeutic principles, Balint turned doctors’ attention to how listening to the patient and treating the patient’s language asrelevant, diagnostically and therapeutically, can significantly enhance medical practice. Byrne and Long (1976) conducted a study of the primary care consultation, based on audio recordings of over 2,000 consultations. Their research was the first to detail the structure and delivery of the healthcare consultation. They identified six consultation phases: Establishing a relationship; discovering the reason for a patient’s attendance; conducting a verbal and/or physical examination; evaluating the patient’s condition; detailing treatment or further investigation; and closing. Byrne and Long’s analyses focused on doctors’ statements and practices, and treated doctors’ actions as causal. They were thus able to appraise the effectiveness of individual consultations, based on descriptions of how language is used and deployed by doctors. They observed, for example, that dysfunctionalconsultations t…