• Mora Claramita, Jan Van Dalen, and Cees Pm Van Der Vleuten.
• Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Sekip Utara Yogyakarta, Indonesia. claramita@yahoo.com
• Patient Educ Couns. 2011 Dec 1; 85 (3): e169-74.

ObjectiveTo explore the relationship between the style of doctor-patient communication and patients' educational background in a Southeast Asian teaching hospital setting using the Roter Interaction Analysis System (RIAS).MethodsWe analyzed a total of 245 audio-taped consultations involving 30 internal medicine residents with 7-10 patients each in the internal medicine outpatient clinics. The patients were categorized into a group with a high and a group with a low educational level. We ranked the data into 41 RIAS utterances and RIAS-based composite categories in order of observed frequency during consultations.ResultsThe residents invariantly used a paternalistic style irrespective of patients' educational background. The RIAS utterances and the composite categories show no significant relationship between communication style and patients' educational level.ConclusionDoctors in a Southeast Asian country use a paternalistic communication style during consultations, regardless of patients' educational background.Practice ImplicationTo approach a more partnership doctor-patient communication, culture and clinical environment concern of Southeast Asian should be further investigated.Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

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