Association among Doctor-Patient Communication, Trust, and Patients' Negative Stereotypes for Healthcare Professionals during COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Study

Aim. The purpose of this study was to examine the association among doctor-patient communication, trust, and patients' negative stereotypes for healthcare professionals during COVID-19. Background. Patients' negative stereotypes for healthcare professionals have been considered a major cause of violence against healthcare professionals. During COVID-19, since the fear for illness could exacerbate patients' negative stereotypes for healthcare professionals, therefore, how to inhibit patients' negative stereotypes for healthcare professionals has become a top priority. Methods. From January 2020 to April 2020, a cross-sectional survey study was performed in which a total of 2000 patients were convenience-sampled from different regions of China. The survey measured doctor-patient communication, institutional trust, interpersonal trust, and patients' negative stereotypes for healthcare professionals, respectively. After standardizing the total data scores, the association between doctor-patient communication, trust and patients' negative stereotypes for healthcare professionals using the bootstrap method was built. Results. There was a moderate to the high correlation between doctor-patient communication, patients' negative stereotypes for healthcare professionals, interpersonal trust, and institution trust (r = 0.36-0.68, p < 0.01). Mediation analysis showed that patients' interpersonal trust (beta = -0.25, 95% CI: -0.312--0.209) than patients' institution trust (beta = -0.02, 95% CI: -0.042--0.007) played a greater role in suppressing negative stereotypes through doctor-patient communication. Conclusions. Through communication, healthcare professionals and patients increase their familiarity and identification, thereby reducing patients' negative stereotypes. Moreover, because interpersonal trust connotes emotional and cognitive trust, it was more beneficial than institution trust in reducing negative stereotypes. Implications for Nursing Management. The results of this study can tell governments, healthcare organizations, communities, and healthcare professionals that reducing violent behaviors based on negative stereotypes requires attention to institutional trust building, interpersonal trust development, and communication improvement.