Effect of Perspective-Taking on Trust Between Doctors and Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Tension between doctors and patients as a social problem has existed for a long time; thus far, there is no good solution. From the perspective of trust between doctors and patients, this research studies the relieving effect of perspective-taking interventions on the tension between doctors and patients. This study used a randomized, single-blind online experiment. 133 participants were randomly divided into an intervention group (n = 67) and control group (n = 66). Participants were asked to complete writing tasks from the doctor’s perspective. Patients’ trust in doctors was measured at 3 time points: before intervention, immediately after intervention, and 10 days after the intervention. Findings showed a significant interaction effect between time measurement and group. In the intervention group, a pairwise comparison of time measurements showed a significant difference between T1 and T2. Perspective-taking interventions can improve patients’ trust in doctors, but this effect diminishes over time.