This
paper proposes a framework for measuring the association or relationship
between health provider status and social interaction with patients. It makes
two assumptions. The first is that health providers engage in social
interaction with patients. The second is that more involved providers have
stronger relationships with patients. For example, because doctors have a
significant role to play in caring for patients, they should have more
interaction with patients than clerks and receptionists. Furthermore, this
framework hypothesizes that: 1) health provider status is directly associated
with their social interaction; and, 2) the sex of the health provider moderates the strength of this
association. This conceptual framework defines three concepts: health provider status,
social interaction (ordinal measures), and sex of health providers (a nominal
measure). The main limitation is that the theory to be established will be restricted
to one independent and one moderator variable and will be appropriate for
studying the perspectives of health providers only.
Cite this paper
Berkeley, B. (2017). Relationship between Health Provider Status and Social Interaction. Open Access Library Journal, 4, e3708. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1103708.
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