The Need for Mutual Healthcare Interactions in Building Patients’ Trust: The Case of Muleba And Chato Districts, Tanzania

Abstract

The centrality of patients’ trust in healthcare providers cannot be underestimated given
its influence on healthcare outcomes. Analysts and researchers have focused on the
conceptualization of trust and factors for the development and lose of trust in healthcare
encounters. The notable gap in these discussions has been the lack of analysis on the
interrelation between the nature of patient-health provider relationship and patients’
trust. A study of 390 systematically sampled healthcare users was conducted in Chato
and Muleba districts to find out the connection between the two aspects of healthcare.
As per the analysis of this paper, there is a strong positive correlation between patients’
trust and the nature of patient-health provider relationship as patients’ trust increases
with the improvement in patient-health provider relationships. High level of patient’s
trust in healthcare providers is associated with mutuality in health care encounters,
while low level of trust is associated with paternalism. Therefore, the assurance of
patients’ trust in healthcare providers and healthcare institutions demands the provision
of necessary illness and treatment information to patients, and minimal involvement of
patients in therapeutic decision-making.