{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,14]],"date-time":"2026-10-14T12:12:23Z","timestamp":1791979943003,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":20,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,31]],"date-time":"2023-08-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1693440000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychiatry"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Functional gastrointestinal disorders are frequent diseases often associated with a pronounced burden reflected in a greatly reduced quality of life. Patients are seeking medical help but may be perceived as demanding and challenging. For successful diagnosis and treatment of these patients, a good doctor-patient communication is key. However, so far, only few studies focus on the physicians\u2019 perspective of the doctor-patient communication. The present study cross-sectionally investigated 520 physicians using the validated difficult doctor-patient relationship questionnaire and the treatment satisfaction questionnaire from the physician\u2019s perspective along with several <jats:italic>ad hoc<\/jats:italic> questions. Data from 5,354 physician-patient conversations (one conversation per patient) was included. Physicians participating in this study mostly suspected stress-related burdens as the cause of functional gastrointestinal disorders (65.4%), while patients rather suspected food (55.4%) or other somatic causes (43.6%). The physician-patient relationship was rated just below the threshold for difficult interactions (cut-off \u226530, mean\u2009\u00b1\u2009SD in the current sample: 28.6\u2009\u00b1\u20099.6) with 49.1% of physicians reaching a score of \u226530. Although physicians overall felt confident in the doctor-patient communication even in difficult conversations (61.9%), only 33.1% reported to have enough time for these patients and only 5.6% felt sufficiently compensated for discussions with patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders. Therefore, education of physicians on functional gastrointestinal disorders, training of physicians in physician-patient communication as well as an improved reimbursement of speaking medicine should help to further improve care for these patients and also treatment satisfaction on both the side of the patients as well as the physicians.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2023.1252268","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,31]],"date-time":"2023-08-31T16:10:37Z","timestamp":1693498237000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":14,"title":["Patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders\u2014importance of communication between physician and patient assessed in a cross-sectional cohort study"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Miriam","family":"Goebel-Stengel","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ute","family":"Paulsen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Petra","family":"Bennerscheidt","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Stephan","family":"Zipfel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Andreas","family":"Stengel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"17081","DOI":"10.1038\/nrdp.2017.81","article-title":"Functional dyspepsia","volume":"3","author":"Enck","year":"2017","journal-title":"Nat Rev Dis Primers"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"16014","DOI":"10.1038\/nrdp.2016.14","article-title":"Irritable bowel syndrome","volume":"2","author":"Enck","year":"2016","journal-title":"Nat Rev Dis Primers"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"397","DOI":"10.1016\/s1542-3565(05)00084-4","article-title":"Severe irritable bowel and functional abdominal pain syndromes: managing the patient and health care costs","volume":"3","author":"Longstreth","year":"2005","journal-title":"Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol"},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1417","DOI":"10.1177\/2050640618787648","article-title":"Understanding symptom burden and attitudes to irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhoea: results from patient and healthcare professional surveys","volume":"6","author":"T\u00f6rnblom","year":"2018","journal-title":"United Eur Gastroenterol J"},{"key":"ref5","first-page":"94","article-title":"Questionnaire on the difficult doctor-patient relationship\u2014psychometric evaluation of a short questionnaire for outpatient consultations","volume":"4","author":"Nicolai","year":"2011","journal-title":"Klin Diagn Eval"},{"key":"ref6","article-title":"Patients with physical complaints without organ findings in the traditional Chinese medicine in China: what factors influence treatment outcome?","volume-title":"Thesis","author":"D\u00fcmmler","year":"2010"},{"key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"54","DOI":"10.55563\/clinexprheumatol\/u1nbxz","article-title":"Good pain, bad pain: illness perception and physician attitudes towards rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia patients","volume":"39","author":"Aloush","year":"2021","journal-title":"Clin Exp Rheumatol"},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e025569","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjopen-2018-025569","article-title":"Difficult patient-doctor encounters in a Swiss university outpatient clinic: cross-sectional study","volume":"9","author":"Mota","year":"2019","journal-title":"BMJ Open"},{"key":"ref9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1007\/BF02603477","article-title":"The difficult patient: prevalence, psychopathology, and functional impairment","volume":"11","author":"Hahn","year":"1996","journal-title":"J Gen Intern Med"},{"key":"ref10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"128","DOI":"10.1186\/1472-6963-6-128","article-title":"The difficult doctor? 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