Tomasz Prusiński, Stanisław Burdziej and Michał Główczewski
The aim of the study was to determine the predictive power of two relational factors, procedural justice and legitimacy, against the well-being of patients receiving medical care.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of the study was to determine the predictive power of two relational factors, procedural justice and legitimacy, against the well-being of patients receiving medical care.
Design/methodology/approach
The study sample consisted of 590 patients in treatment for somatic conditions in hospital outpatient clinics. The study was conducted in a correlational scheme. Subjects evaluated their relationship with their chosen doctor. In order to verify the hypotheses, SEM was carried out.
Findings
The relationship effect was noted. Procedural justice was a significant and positive predictor of psychological well-being, while distributive justice, i.e. time and money invested by the patient in their treatment, was not. The perceived legitimacy of the doctor was not a significant predictor of the psychological well-being of their patient. The relationship between the experience of procedural justice and psychological well-being was serially mediated by patients’ perceived physician legitimacy and perceived life satisfaction.
Originality/value
Relational factors shape treatment outcomes operationalized by patients’ subjective sense of well-being. Fair patient handling is a predictor of positive treatment outcomes.
Details
Keywords
The results of empirical research on the patient–psychotherapist relationship have led to the fundamental conclusion that the therapeutic alliance is one of the key factors…
Abstract
Purpose
The results of empirical research on the patient–psychotherapist relationship have led to the fundamental conclusion that the therapeutic alliance is one of the key factors ensuring the positive outcomes of psychotherapy. The main aim of the present study is to determine what variables pertaining to the context of psychotherapy (type of treatment applied in accordance with the psychotherapist’s modality/orientation, type of disorder diagnosed in the patient) differentiated the alliance.
Design/methodology/approach
Participants for the main study were recruited from public and private psychotherapy offices across Poland. The working alliance was assessed based on 262 psychotherapist–patient dyads. The sample consisted of 428 participants. To assess the quality of therapeutic alliance, the author used the full version of the Working Alliance Inventory as adapted into Polish.
Findings
The results of analyses led to several basic conclusions. The study revealed a differentiating effect of type of psychotherapy on the quality of therapeutic alliance. Alliance quality was not differentiated by the type of disorder diagnosed in patients and treated in the psychotherapeutic process.
Originality/value
The results of analyses presented in this empirical study allowed for exploring the quality of the therapeutic alliance with contextual variables related to the psychotherapeutic process taken into account.