Perceptions and Attitudes of Health Care Givers and Patients on Medically Unexplained Symptoms: A Narrative Review with a Focus on Cultural Diversity and Migrants
Author(s):
An Mariman, Peter Vermeir*, MÃ?¡rta Csabai , Melinda LÃ?¡tos, Anne Weiland, Karen M StegersâÂ?ÂJager ,Marloes L Jacobs and Dirk Vogelaers
Background: Health care providers often struggle with the management of MUS patients, especially with a different ethnic and /or cultural background.
Objectives: A review on behaviors and attitudes of health care providers towards MUS patients and of patients themselves, in order to improve healthcare provider-patient interaction.
Methods: Screening of PubMed, Web of Science, Cinahl and Cochrane Library on the keywords ‘Medical unexplained (physical) symptoms (MUS)’, ‘Somatoform disorder’, ‘Functional syndrome’, ‘Diversity’, ‘Migrants’, ‘Ethnicity’, ‘Care models’, ‘Medical education’, ‘Communication skills’, ‘Health literacy’.
Results: MUS patients, especially with a different ethnic background, often feel not-understood, which may provoke medical shopping. Health care providers experience feelings of helplessness. From undergraduate trainees to senior physicians, attitudes and perceptions tend to be negative, impacting on the quality of the patient/health care provider relationship and subsequently on health outcomes, patient satisfaction and therapeutic adherence.
Conclusion: This review identified significant room for improvement in both attitudes and behavior of health care providers towards MUS patients, including migrants and patients from cultural diverse backgrounds. These need to be addressed in order to improve outcomes.