Journal of general internal medicine
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African Americans and Latinos use services that require a doctor's order at lower rates than do whites. Racial bias and patient preferences contribute to disparities, but their effects appear small. ⋯ Research has shown that doctors have poorer communication with minority patients than with others, but problems in doctor-patient communication have received little attention as a potential cause, a remediable one, of health disparities. We evaluate the evidence that poor communication is a cause of disparities and propose some remedies drawn from the communication sciences.
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To assess the roles of socioeconomic status, social stability, social stress, health beliefs, and illicit drug use with nonadherence to antiretroviral therapy. ⋯ Although our sample size was limited and variables that are not significant in subgroup analysis may still be associated with adherence, our results suggest that correlates of nonadherence are HIV risk factor specific. Strategies to increase antiretroviral adherence in HIV-infected patients should include social support interventions targeted at different risk factors for different patient groups.