Objectives/Goals: Medical mistrust is a persistent challenge to effective healthcare delivery and disproportionately affects Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC). The relationship between religiosity and patient trust is not well understood but can provide key insight into improving primary care. Methods/Study Population: This study examines the association between religiosity and trust among BIPOC and White patients receiving primary care at Tufts Medical Center. Eligible participants will be adults aged ≥18 years without cognitive impairment. Recruitment will occur via telephone and during office visits. We will create surveys measuring religiosity and trust in primary care physicians (PCPs), and mean scores will be compared across subgroups, including race, sex, age, and religious affiliation. We will also conduct interviews to explore patient perspectives on PCP characteristics that encourage or discourage trust, as well as the role of religion in shaping trust within primary care settings. Results/Anticipated Results: Based on prior literature, we hypothesize that BIPOC patients will have higher mean scores of mistrust than White patients. We also hypothesize a statistically significant interaction between religiosity and trust for both BIPOC and White patients, such that higher religiosity scores will be associated with greater levels of mistrust. In subgroup analyses, we hypothesize that Black/African American and Hispanic patients will have the strongest moderating effect between religiosity and mistrust. We further expect patients who report high levels of trust in their PCPs to identify physician qualities including perceived expertise, empathy, cultural humility, and shared decision-making. Discussion/Significance of Impact: Our results will inform the development and implementation of a medical mistrust screening tool that measures individual rather than broader group-based perceptions of trust – a tool that is not yet widely integrated into primary care – and can enhance physicians’ approach to patient-centered care.
Veaux et al. (Wed,) studied this question.