Doctor-patient communication and the quality of care : an observation study into affective and instrumental behavior in general practice

Abstract

This thesis is about doctor-patient communication in general practice. It is based on several observation studies of videotaped real-life consultations, collected in a series of consecutive research projects •. The main part of the thesis consists of six articles that have been published in various scientific journals; some were also presented as papers at national or international congresses. Each article can be read independently from the others; together they form an exploratory journey into relevant types of physician behavior in general practice