Visualising conversation structure across time: insights into effective doctor-patient consultations.

ABSTRACT: Effective communication between healthcare professionals and patients is critical to patients' health outcomes. The doctor/patient dialogue has been extensively researched from different perspectives, with findings emphasising a range of behaviours that lead to effective communication. Much research involves self-reports, however, so that behavioural engagement cannot be disentangled from patients' ratings of effectiveness. In this study we used a highly efficient and time economic automated computer visualisation measurement technique called Discursis to analyse conversational behaviour in consultations. Discursis automatically builds an internal language model from a transcript, mines the transcript for its conceptual content, and generates an interactive visual account of the discourse.

SUBMITTER: Angus D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3367908 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature