Relationship among aggressive trait, patient-physician trust and illness perception of patients

Objective To investigate the relationship between aggressive trait of patients, patient-physician trust and illness perception. Methods Totally 500 patients were recruited from different medical departments from eight hospitals in Guangdong and 384 samples' valid data were obtained.The aggressive trait of patients, patient-physician trust and illness perception were assessed with the Buss-Perry aggression questionnaire(BPAQ), the Wake Forest physician trust scale(WFPTS), and the brief illness perception questionnaire(BIPQ) respectively.SPSS 23.0 and AMOS 20.0 were used for data analysis and structural equation model construction. Results Pearson correlation analysis showed that the BPAQ (53.2±13.9) and BIPQ(38.6±9.1) were negatively correlated respectively with WFPTS (35.3±6.1) and benevolence (17.6±3.2) and technical competence (17.8±3.3), (r=-0.14~-0.18, P<0.01). And there was positive correlation between BPAQ scores and BIPQ score(r=0.37, P<0.01). Mediation effect test showed that patient-physician trust mediated the associations between patient aggression and illness perception (B=0.039, 95%CI= (0.002, 0.120)). Conclusion Aggressive trait and patient-physician are significantly related with illness perception.Patient-physician trust exerts mediating effect on the relationship between aggression of patients and illness perception. Key words: Patient-physician trust; Illness perception; Aggressive trait