Talk-to-Heal

Physician-patient communication is at the core of patient-centred care. However, investigations focusing on the links that mediate and/or moderate the role of communication over outcomes, particularly for physicians, have been scarce. Communication training programs seem to improve physicians’ skills, but very few have been empirically validated and properly manualised.

The first goal of the project is to ascertain pathways and mechanisms through which the communication process is likely to influence physicians’ adjustment outcomes, resulting in strategic targets for subsequent intervention. The second goal is to develop and assess the feasibility of a manualised, integrative and multimodal communication training program for physicians.

The main contributions of the project include extending physician-patient communication theoretical frameworks, guiding and informing intervention and research processes; providing a cross-contextual and manualised training program on Physician-Patient Communication, currently inexistent in Portugal; and ultimately improving physicians’ and patients’ adjustment outcomes, as well as quality outcomes in healthcare organizations.