Keywords

minority physician communication, physician communication, minority physician satisfaction, physician satisfaction, healthcare communication, minority communication

Abstract

Few interpersonal and organizational communication studies examine the professional and organizational aspects of career satisfaction among minority physicians. Due to the underrepresenation of minority physicians, most studies resort to comparing aggregate groups of minority physicians in juxtaposition to non-minority physicians. These studies fail to uncover possible communication differences, which originate from cultural dissimilarities between disaggregate racial/ethnic groups. Even fewer studies examine physicians' written communication to open-ended survey questions about career satisfaction/dissatisfaction between disaggregate racial/ethnic minority groups and non-minorities. This study specifically examines written responses to two open-ended survey questions about professional and organizational dissatisfaction and compares responses from disaggregate minority physician and non-minority physicians. Participants were divided into five response-driven categories of race/ethnicity as follows: Asian/Pacific Islander, Black/African American, Indian/Pakistani, Hispanic, and White/Non-Hispanic. The population consists of 1849 members of the medical staff roster of a Southeastern, U.S., not-for-profit hospital group. Primary findings indicate the presence of recurrent themes among disaggregate minority physician racial/ethnic groups' responses. Significant variation exists between responses from disaggregate minority physician racial/ethnic groups and non-minority physicians. Results imply that open-ended methods of data collection are essential to gaining knowledge about ways cultural dissimilarities between disaggregate minority racial/ethnic groups affect communication and satisfaction. Understanding more about cultural dissimilarities is necessary for: improving data collection quality; recruiting and retaining minority physicians; and reducing healthcare disparities among minorities.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2006

Semester

Fall

Advisor

Barfield, Rufus

Degree

Master of Arts (M.A.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

Nicholson School of Communication

Degree Program

Communication

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0001488

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0001488

Language

English

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

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Included in

Communication Commons

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