US military veterans’ perceived concordance with their providers regarding persistent physical symptoms prospectively predicts satisfaction with care and adherence to care plans
Bibliographic Data
BACKGROUND: Medically unexplained, persistent physical symptoms and syndromes are commonly seen in primary care. These are debilitating for patients and difficult to treat, causing frustration for patients and providers. PURPOSE: This study investigates how well US military veterans with multiple persistent physical symptoms (PPS), called Gulf War illness (GWI), agree with their healthcare providers about their illness. This agreement, called perceived concordance, is hypothesized to influence veterans' satisfaction with care, adherence to care plans, and disability levels. METHODS: Participants were 230 veterans with GWI deployed to the 1990-1991 Gulf War who were recruited from Veteran Affairs primary care and War Related Illness and Injury Study Centers (WRIISCs). Veterans' GWI perceptions and perceived concordance with their providers regarding GWI were assessed at a medical visit. Veterans' self-reported satisfaction with care, adherence to care plans, and disability levels were measured at 1 week, 1 month, and 6 months post-baseline. RESULTS: Bivariate correlations indicated that veterans' GWI-related illness perceptions were related to veterans' satisfaction with care and reports of functional disability. Beyond these effects, veterans' perceived concordance with the provider regarding GWI was positively associated with satisfaction over time (e.g., fixed-effect estimate = 0.36, P < .001 for 1-week follow-up) and adherence to care plans (fixed-effect estimate averaged across all timepoints = 0.03, P = .03) but was unrelated to reported disability. CONCLUSIONS: Veterans' perceived concordance with their providers about GWI seems to be important for patient satisfaction and adherence to care plans. More research with longer-term follow-up is needed to understand how perceived concordance might influence disability levels and the outcome of care plans.
Concordance · Family medicine · Health care · Patient satisfaction · Psychiatry · Veterans Affairs · Clinical Psychology · Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Research · Internal Medicine · Medicine · Nursing · Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments · Traumatic Brain Injury Research
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