For example, we did a study with patients with cancer that had already spread, and found that if patients were able to be optimistic about maintaining a good quality of life, and able to continue having as positive a time as they could within the constraints of their disease, that they did actually do better. That sort of optimistic framework can certainly be influenced by the way doctors and patients talk to each other. Because we only had nine doctors, it was difficult to look at differences between the doctors. We have again in a very small sample, found that female doctors find it easier to pick up emotional sorts of cues, and in fact patients probably talk more comfortably to female doctors about emotional issues than to male doctors. And that I guess, reflects a whole lot of things about the way males and females are taught to communicate.
Women are more likely to raise emotional issues than men, and age difference as well.
There has been a shift where older people are more used to accepting the doctor as an authority, whereas younger people are more likely to want to get involved in making decisions. Sometimes education can make a difference as well. Just if people have had some medical background they find it easier to sort through the issues. So every patient that fronts up really requires in some ways a different response from the doctor. Professor Phyllis Butow from the Medical Psychology Unit at the University of Sydney.