How does oncologists’ communication affect patients’ well-being and online health information seeking? – A randomized experiment

Objective: Patients with cancer increasingly rely on online information about their disease. However, the impact of clinicians’ responses to patients presenting this information remains unclear. This randomized experiment tested the effects of oncologists’ communication approaches on patients’ trust, satisfaction, and intentions to seek and discuss online information. Additionally, we explored moderating effects of patients’ psychological characteristics. Methods: In an online vignette experiment, we manipulated clinicians' communication approaches (patient-centered vs. clinician-centered) in hypothetical oncology consultations. (Former) cancer patients (N = 270, 62 ± 13 years, 55 % female) were randomly assigned to one out of eight conditions. We performed 1-way ANOVA's, independent samples t-tests and multiple regressions. Results: Participants exposed to a patient-centered approach reported higher satisfaction with the consultation (d =0.62, p < .001), stronger trust in the clinician (d =0.49, p < .001), and stronger intentions to seek (d =0.40, p < .001) and discuss online information (d =0.69, p < .001) compared to participants exposed to a clinician-centered approach. Moderation analyses indicated that the effect of communication approach on intention to discuss online information depended on participants‘ trait anxiety (b =-0.43, p = .017) and uncertainty intolerance (b =-0.35, p = .041). Uncertainty intolerance further moderated patient satisfaction with the consultation (b =-0.33, p = .049). Participants‘ monitoring coping style moderated the effect of communication approach on online information seeking (b =0.23, p = .036). Conclusion: Clinicians’ patient-centered responses to online information seeking may positively affect patient satisfaction with the consultation, trust in the consultation, and online information seeking behavior. We provide initial evidence that these effects do not apply equally to every patient: levels of trait anxiety, uncertainty intolerance and monitoring coping style influence the relationship between the applied communication approach and patient outcomes. Practice implications: Clinicians are advised to emphasize collaborative information exchange and guide patients to trustworthy online sources.