The mediating role of physician trust in the relationship between medical mistrust and health-care system distrust.

Objective: This study was carried out to determine the mediating role of physician trust in the relationship between medical mistrust and health-care system distrust.

Materials and methods: The "Health Care Systems Distrust Scale", which consists of 10 questions, the "Medical Mistrust Scale", which consists of 17 questions, the "Physician Trust Scale", which consists of 11 questions. The statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS 26.0 program.

Results: Health-care system distrust was positively correlated with medical mistrust and negatively correlated with physician trust. There was a negative relationship between medical mistrust and physician trust. Physician trust mediates the effect of medical mistrust on health-care system distrust. In other words, it was determined that the mediating effect of physician trust was significant.

Conclusion: Addition of physician trust to medical mistrust decreases the negative effects of health-care system distrust. Medical mistrust must be addressed at multiple levels of society, including government, policy, and health-care systems.