Many western societies place great emphasis on doctor-patient communication as an integral part of health care for patients. However, no substantial research has hitherto been done on doctor-patient communication in Jamaica. Such research is invaluable as cultural expectations may influence medical care and communication, and paradigms of doctor-patient communication in western, industrialized countries may not be generalizable to less industrialized countries like Jamaica. My research therefore sought to ascertain what factors affect the quality of doctor-patient communication in government hospitals in Jamaica, why, and how. / A quantitative survey was done to gather the required data to ascertain what patients and some health care professionals think of doctors' communication and what factors affect this communication. The data was subjected to qualitative analysis, and my discussion addressed the ethical implications of the findings and conceptualized a practical model for doctor-patient communication in government hospitals in Jamaica. I concluded that, perhaps due to the effects of cultural penetration, some Jamaicans have concerns regarding doctor-patient communication in Jamaican government hospitals that are similar to North-American expectations, but propose that, with proportionally far fewer doctors available and different cultural norms, a different model of doctor-patient communication should exist in Jamaica.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.85662 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Aarons, Derrick |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Division of Experimental Medicine.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002260870, proquestno: AAINR21610, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
Page generated in 0.0024 seconds