NONNATIVE PHYSICIANS AS MESSAGE SOURCES - EFFECTS OF ACCENT AND ETHNICITY ON PATIENTS RESPONSES TO AIDS-PREVENTION COUNSELING

Shifting demographics in the medical professions place increasing numb ers of North American patients in contact with physicians of non-Weste rn ethnolinguistic backgrounds. Extrapolating from previous language a nd attitude research in other professional contexts, there is reason t o suspect that American patients may have negative responses to nonnat ive Western-English-speaking physicians (NNWESPs). Participants listen ed to an AIDS prevention message delivered in one of three accents: hi ghly marked South Asian, moderately marked South Asian, and standard A merican. These were associated with either a male ethnic South Asian o r a male Angle-American physician. Outcome measures included the Speec h Evaluation Instrument, judged professional competence, message recal l, and intention to comply. Results indicate small effects for perceiv ed accent and ethnicity on evaluational reactions to physicians. Recal l and intention to comply were immune from effects of physician ethnol inguistic diversity. Results invite replication using other medical to pics, other language varieties, and other populations of listeners and patients.