Using Text Mining to Analyze Doctor-Patient Verbal Communication: A Geriatric Depression Case Study

Doctor-patient communication has been one of the main areas of research within the healthcare domain. The impact of doctor-patient communication on patient satisfaction and health outcomes has been acknowledged in the literature. The dynamics of doctor-patient communication in a geriatric setting is unique due to the limited physical and cognitive ability of elderly patients; communicating with them requires more attention, patience, and involvement. Geriatric providers are expected to be trained well to communicate with elderly patients with various levels of mental health conditions. In this study, we explored doctor-patient verbal communication patterns using text mining measures and identified differences between depression and non-depression visits. We analyzed a total of 42 doctor-patient encounters. Doctors in the visit were not aware of patients' depression status before and during the visit. Findings showed that doctors had more feelings linked to anger, fear, and sadness when they saw depressed patients. On the other hand, non-depressed patients used more anger-related communication compared to depressed patients. In conclusion, this study states that different communication strategies and training materials should be developed to accommodate depressed geriatric patients and geriatric providers.