A SCALE FOR ASSESSING HEALTH-CARE PROVIDERS TEACHING AND COMMUNICATION BEHAVIOR REGARDING ASTHMA

Partnership between health care providers and patients is important fo r controlling illness. A limited number of studies show how to assess health professionals' communication and partnering behavior. The relat ionship between these aspects of professional behavior and enhanced ma nagement of disease by patients has received little empirical study. T he research reported here developed a Health Care Providers' Teaching and Communication Behavior (TCB) scale for assessing the teaching and communication behavior of clinicians treating patients with asthma. Su ch a tool is needed for research related to provider-patient relations hips and for evaluation of professionals' performance.