How Physician Patient-Centered Behaviors Influence Obstetrical Patients' Trust

The fidelity between obstetricians and their patients is an essential component of a successful physician-patient relationship. Correspondingly, the patient-centeredness of physicians is an antecedent of patient trust and other desired outcomes. OBJECTIVES: (a) To measure how the patient-centered behaviors of obstetricians influence obstetrical patient trust, confidence, and likelihood to recommend their physician to others; (b) to assess the stability of physician patient-centered behaviors effect on obstetrical patient trust across national random samples; (c) to test the hypothesized model’s strength against a competing model. METHODS: Using randomly selected test (N₁=293) and cross-validation (N₂=292) samples a two-factor multigroup structural equation modeling design was employed. Experiments conducted to test the model’s trustworthiness included: goodness of fit, measurement invariance, and a post hoc competing model plausibility challenge. RESULTS: The model fit well. Obstetricians’ patient-centered behavior significantly influenced obstetrical patient trust, explaining 88% of its variability. It also positively influenced patients’ confidence and likelihood to recommend the obstetrician. Portending a causal relationship, a standardized unit increase in obstetricians’ patient-centeredness concomitantly increased obstetrical patient trust, confidence, and the patients’ likelihood to recommend their practitioner by .939, .920, and .882 units respectively. The effect of obstetricians’ patient-centered behaviors on obstetrical patient trust, confidence, and the likelihood to recommend the practitioner was stable across both the test and cross-validation samples. The model was sustained when compared to the competing model. DISCUSSION: Patient-centeredness is a measurable latent ability of obstetricians. It is a component of care that affects the quality of obstetricians’ interaction with their patients and consequently outcomes. The study offers an evidence-based model for future research with implications for quality measurement and improvement, and the prevention of disparities in the obstetrician’s office.