The effects of health transformation program on patient–healthcare personnel communication and interaction in Turkey

The structure of the Turkish healthcare system is being reorganized under Health Transformation Program (HTP) and some serious changes in healthcare system are being carried out. Effective healthcare personnel and patient communication has a significant impact on patients’ health behaviors and health outcomes. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of communication dimensions and HTP on patient and healthcare personnel communication and interaction. The survey was conducted with simple random sampling to 9,089 patients in Turkey. Exploratory factor analysis showed three dimensions of communication which are in positive and strong relationship: building relationship, process of physical examination and ending communication. Hierarchical multiple regression was performed to measure the effect of communication dimensions and HTP to patient–healthcare personnel communication and interaction. According to the first step, communication dimensions have a statistically significant effect on patient–healthcare personnel communication and interaction. Introduction of HTP to hierarchical multiple regression explained additional meaningful variance in patient–healthcare personnel communication and interaction, after controlling communication dimensions. It is revealed that, HTP has an important role on communication and interaction. This study has a macro approach and it is limited with the patients’ point of view. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014