Understanding Concordance in Patient-Physician Relationships: Personal and Ethnic Dimensions of Shared Identity

The research design was a cross-sectional study with 214 patients and 29 primary care physicians from 10 private and public outpatient clinics. Measures included postvisit patient ratings of similarity to the physician; satisfaction, trust, and intent to adhere; and audiotape analysis of patient involvement and physicians' patient-centered communication.

Factor analysis revealed 2 dimensions of similarity, personal (in beliefs, values) and ethnic (in race, community). Black and white patients in racially concordant interactions reported more personal and ethnic similarity (mean score, 87.6 and 78.8, respectively, on a 100-point scale) to their physicians than did minority patients (mean score, 81.4 and 41.2, respectively) and white patients (mean score, 84.4 and 41.9, respectively) in racially discordant encounters. In multivariable models, perceived personal similarity was predicted by the patient's age, education, and physicians' patient-centered communication, but not by racial or sexual concordance. Perceived personal similarity and physicians' patient-centered communication predicted patients' trust, satisfaction, and intent to adhere.