Reciprocal Trust in Patient-Physician Relationships: Managing the Transition from Individual to Group Trust

Supplemental Appropriation: December 2001, $5000

Karen Cook, Roderick Kramer, and David Thom of Stanford University received an award for an exploratory study of trust between physicians and patients under managed care. Through a series of focus groups and interviews, they will establish whether trust is more difficult to maintain in a managed care setting, where the patient may be passed among several different doctors. The researchers will also explore the little-studied flip side of the doctor-patient relationship, examining the trust a physician needs to invest in a patient when disclosing painful information or recommending risky procedures.