Preference for physicians as information providers by women with multiple sclerosis: a potential cause for communication problems?

Communication problems between physicians and people with chronic diseases may result from many causes. A brief description of some causes is provided. The focus of this article concerns the information‐seeking patterns of women with multiple sclerosis (MS). A survey method was used to determine whether a woman‘s general orientation to information (monitoring, or actively seeking infor mation; blunting, or turning away from information) or the length of time she had had MS affected her choice of human resource from whom she preferred to receive both medical and non‐medical information on a variety of topics related to multiple sclerosis. Although both monitors and blunters indicated physicians as the preferred source of medical as well as non‐medical information, the results revealed that monitors preferred physicians more often than did blunters. The length of time a woman had had MS was not a major factor affecting her choice of physicians. The use of physicians as a resource for both medical and non‐medical information can contribute to physician frustration which, in turn, can foster physician‐patient communication problems.