Association between patients’ sociodemographic characteristics/number of years of doctors’ practice and patients’ preferred role in decision-making
| Characteristic | Passive* (n=123) | Autonomous† (n=347) | p Value | χ2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years) | ||||
| <35 | 24 (24.5) | 74 (75.5) | 0.762 | 0.543 |
| 36–54 | 39 (25.0) | 117 (75.0) | ||
| ≥55 | 60 (27.8) | 156 (72.2) | ||
| Sex | ||||
| Female | 74 (27.3) | 197 (72.7) | 0.513 | 0.428 |
| Male | 49 (24.6) | 150 (75.4) | ||
| Ethnicity | ||||
| Malay | 47 (27.5) | 124 (72.5) | 0.317 | 3.529 |
| Chinese | 32 (20.9) | 121 (79.1) | ||
| Indian | 35 (30.2) | 81 (69.8) | ||
| Other | 9 (30.0) | 21 (70.0) | ||
| Marital status | ||||
| Single | 24 (27.9) | 62 (72.1) | 0.135 | 4.008 |
| Married | 78 (23.9) | 248 (76.1) | ||
| Divorced/widow/widower | 21 (36.2) | 37(63.8) | ||
| Occupation‡ | ||||
| White collar job | 33 (28.7) | 82 (71.3) | 0.794 | 1.683 |
| Blue collar job | 20 (22.5) | 69 (77.5) | ||
| Retired | 33 (24.3) | 103 (75.7) | ||
| Unemployed | 8 (26.7) | 22 (73.3) | ||
| Housewife | 29 (29.0) | 71 (71.0) | ||
| Total household income (MYR) | ||||
| ≤999 | 27 (39.1) | 42 (60.9) | 0.018 | 10.017 |
| 1000–2999 | 53 (27.9) | 137 (72.1) | ||
| 3000–4999 | 21 (19.6) | 86 (80.4) | ||
| ≥5000 | 22 (21.2) | 82 (78.8) | ||
| Education level | ||||
| No formal/primary | 27 (27.8) | 70 (72.2) | 0.532 | 2.198 |
| Secondary | 54 (27.4) | 143 (72.6) | ||
| Technical/vocational/diploma | 14 (19.2) | 59 (80.8) | ||
| Tertiary | 28 (27.2) | 75 (72.8) | ||
| Number of years of practice of doctors | ||||
| <10 | 85 (24.2) | 263 (75.6) | 0.348 | 2.114 |
| 10–19 | 25 (31.3) | 55 (68.8) | ||
| ≥20 | 13 (31.0) | 29 (69.0) | ||
Values are n (%).
Bold indicates significance.
*Passive: passive role preference (options 4 and 5; see fig 1).
†Autonomous: shared and active role preference (options 1–3; see fig 1).
‡Occupation of the patients was categorised based on the Malaysian Standard Classification of Occupations 2008 by the Ministry of Human Resources, Malaysia.
MYR, Malaysian Ringgit.