Audiologists’ preferences for patient-centredness: a cross-sectional questionnaire study of cross-cultural differences and similarities among professionals in Portugal, India and Iran

OBJECTIVE Patient-centredness has become an important aspect of health service delivery; however, there are a limited number of studies that focus on this concept in the domain of hearing healthcare. The objective of this study was to examine and compare audiologists' preferences for patient-centredness in Portugal, India and Iran. DESIGN The study used a cross-sectional survey design with audiologists recruited from three different countries. PARTICIPANTS A total of 191 fully-completed responses were included in the analysis (55 from Portugal, 78 from India and 58 from Iran). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE The Patient-Practitioner Orientation Scale (PPOS). RESULTS PPOS mean scores suggest that audiologists have a preference for patient-centredness (ie, mean of 3.6 in a 5-point scale). However, marked differences were observed between specific PPOS items suggesting these preferences vary across clinical situations. A significant level of difference (p<0.001) was found between audiologists' preferences for patient-centredness in three countries. Audiologists in Portugal had a greater preference for patient-centredness when compared to audiologists in India and Iran, although no significant differences were found in terms of age and duration of experience among these sample populations. CONCLUSIONS There are differences and similarities in audiologists' preferences for patient-centredness among countries. These findings may have implications for the training of professionals and also for clinical practice in terms of optimising hearing healthcare across countries.