Authors: Bassam Banat, Zaid Rjoob, Bashar Shaer, Mohammad Najajrah, Ahmad Abu Fannoun, Maram Farahin
This study aimed to assess the prevalence of communication barriers between patients and healthcare providers at Bethlehem and Hebron health care centers. The study used the quantitative approach, using a questionnaire, which is appropriate for the exploratory nature of the research. Therefore, three hundred sixty-eight health care providers were stratifiedly selected, based on gender and Governorate. The sample size was calculated using the sampling web of http://www.surveysystem.com/sscalc.htm, sample size calculator, with a margin error of 0.05. To achieve this end, a 25-item scale was used to measure communication barriers between patients and HealthCare Providers as perceived by HealthCare Providers, that was developed by the research team, based on Norouzinia et al. (2016) scale, taking into consideration the cultural appropriateness in the Palestinian society. A 5-point Likert scale (ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree) was used to measure responses. The collected data was statistically analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS). The study found a moderate level of communication barriers between patients and healthcare providers. Moreover, findings showed that gender, qualification and division do not show any significant differences. While the differences in authority variable were in favor of the Governmental participants, as for work shift, the differences favored participants in shift A, and regarding the profession variable, the differences favored to the doctors. The study recommends the providing of training sessions for healthcare providers with different ages in communication skills. In addition, the ministry of health in Palestine should take into consideration the workload of the healthcare providers, by employing additional number of healthcare providers.
Keywords: Communication, communication barriers, Healthcare Providers, patients, Palestine.
Bassam Banat, PhD. Sociology (Statistical Methods and Research Techniques), Associate Professor, Department of Applied Sociology, Faculty of Arts, Al-Quds University, Main Campus, Jerusalem- Abu Dies, Palestine. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Zaid Rjoob, Bashar Shaer, Mohammad Najajrah, Ahmad Abu Fannoun, & Maram Farahin, Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Professions, Al-Quds University, Main Campus, Jerusalem- Abu Dies, Palestine.
