THE ROTER INTERACTION ANALYSIS SYSTEM (RIAS) IN ONCOLOGICAL CONSULTATIONS - PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES

One of the most frequently used systems to analyse doctor-patient comm unication is the Roter Interaction Analysis System (RIAS). However, it has mostly been applied and evaluated in primary care settings. Two s tudies are presented in which the psychometric properties of the RIAS are investigated in an oncological setting. In the first study (N = 25 ) the feasibility, inter-rater reliability and content validity of the RIAS was investigated. In the second study, we evaluated the discrimi nant validity of the RIAS. Results of the first study showed that codi ng of tapes was more time consuming than indicated by the :Roter manua l. The inter-rater reliability proved to be high for both physician co mmunication (0.68-1) and patient communication (0.60-1). The content v alidity proved to be acceptable: all utterances could be classified. H owever, coding dilemmas regarding affective communication occurred. Th e RIAS provided no option to classify communication of a third person present. Some communication categories were never or rarely used. Resu lts of the second study indicate that the RIAS was able to discriminat e between communicative behaviors in oncological consultations (N = 60 ) and three different GP-samples (random-GP sample N = 329, hypertensi on sample N = 103, gynaecology sample N = 65). To conclude, the psycho metric properties of the RIAS are satisfactory in an oncological setti ng. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.