Addressing Microaggressions in Racially Charged Patient-provider Interactions: A Pilot Randomized Trial
Completed · Not applicable
Conditions studied: Racism
In brief
Racial bias in medical care is a significant public health issue, with increased focus on microaggressions and the quality of patient-provider interactions. Innovations in training interventions are needed to decrease microaggressions and improve provider communication and rapport with patients of color during medical encounters. This paper presents a pilot randomized trial of an innovative clinical workshop that employed a theoretical model from social and contextual behavioral sciences. The intervention was largely informed by research on the importance of mindfulness and interracial contact involving reciprocal exchanges of vulnerability and responsiveness, to target processes centered on the providers' likelihood of expressing biases and negative stereotypes when interacting with patients of color in racially challenging moments. Twenty-five medical student and recent graduate participants were randomized to a workshop intervention or no intervention. Outcomes were measured via provider self-report and observed changes in targeted provider behaviors. Specifically, two independent, blind teams of coders assessed provider emotional rapport and responsiveness during simulated interracial patient encounters with standardized Black patients who presented specific racial challenges to participants. We observed greater improvements in observed emotional rapport and responsiveness (indexing fewer microaggressions), improved self-reported explicit attitudes toward minoritized groups, and improved self-reported working alliance and closeness with the Black standardized patients were observed and reported by intervention participants. Effects largely were driven by improvements by the White participants.
Key facts
- Study ID
- NCT04180956
- Run by
- University of Washington
- People needed
- 25
- Starts
- 2016-05-24
- Expected to finish
- 2016-09-25
- Last updated by the study team
- 2019-12-03
Who can join
Age: any. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.
You may qualify if…
- Medical students or recent graduates of Bastyr University.
You may not qualify if…
- None
Where it is running
- Bastyr University Seattle Clinic — Seattle, Washington, United States
Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov
Trial information comes from ClinicalTrials.gov and is refreshed daily. TrialsForMe does not provide medical care and does not run the studies it lists.