Patients' perceptions of patient-centered communication with healthcare providers and associated factors in Japan - The INFORM Study 2020

Objective: To describe patients' perceptions of the patient-centeredness of their communication with healthcare providers in Japan, and to examine factors associated with these perceptions. Methods: We analyzed the cross-sectional data from the INFORM Study 2020, which is a nationwide survey on health information access in Japan. A total of 3605 respondents completed the survey. Our primary outcome was the nine elements of the patient-centered communication scale (PCCS), which was compiled from 2703 respondents (75.0%) reporting at least one provider visit within 12 months. It was rated on a four-point Likert scale: always, usually, sometimes, and never. We used binary logistic regression to examine the association between sociodemographic and health-related variables, and each element of the PCCS. Results: For all elements, the percentage of respondents who agreed that their healthcare providers always communicated in a patient-centered way was low (17-31%). Patients with higher age, higher education, poorer general health status and a larger number of visits to providers in the previous 12 months were more likely to have positive perception. Conclusion: Patient-centered communication as reported in a national sample in Japan was low. Clinical implications: Efforts are needed to improve the patient-centeredness of patient-provider communication in Japan to optimize health outcomes.