Psychological and Communication Barriers in Receiving Medical Care for Older Adults

BACKGROUND. According to the United Nations, by 2050, it is expected that every sixth inhabitant of our planet will have crossed the threshold of 65 years. This indicates an urgent need to identify the main barriers that arise when providing medical care in order to improve the process of organizing medical services for people over working age.

AIM. To study the characteristics of psychological and communication barriers (problems in defining the model of the doctor-patient relationship) in the Russian Federation when providing medical services to people over the working age, with the aim of developing recommendations based on these findings to eliminate these obstacles.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. In this study, a questionnaire was used, consisting of three blocks and 89 questions. The data were analyzed using Statistica 10, Stata, and R-Studio programs. The Pearson’s chi-square test was used to compare categorical variable distributions. A generalized linear model was used to test the impact of individual characteristics on the outcome variable. The Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to analyze differences between samples with abnormal distributions.

RESULTS. A total of 3,942 individuals participated in the survey. Among the study participants, the most prevalent psychological barrier to engaging with the healthcare system was fear of visiting a medical facility associated with the potential for detecting new illnesses or worse outcomes (66.6%). Approximately half of respondents indicated that this could serve as a reason for not seeking medical attention (52%). The most commonly reported communication barriers included the need for assistance in understanding doctor’s prescriptions (27.7%), difficulty understanding doctor’s speech due to hearing problems (18.5%), the frequent use of incomprehensible terminology by doctors (25.7%), and approaching problems in a formal manner or not delving deeply enough (24%)

CONCLUSION. The research conducted will allow us  to make managerial and organizational decisions in  a more purposeful and reasonable manner, in  order to  create a  trustworthy environment, improve the quality of  doctorpatient communication, and provide necessary psychological support during medical care for people over working age.

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