Too Worried to Judge: On the Role of Perceived Severity in Medical Decision-Making

Ideally, decisions regarding one's health should be made after assessing the objective probabilities of relevant outcomes. Nevertheless, previous beliefs and emotional reactions also have a role in decision-making. Furthermore, the comprehension of probabilities is commonly affected by the pres...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Colomé, Àngels, Rodríguez-Ferreiro, Javier, Tubau Sala, Elisabet
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2018
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
OAI Identifier:oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/144502
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/144502
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Presa de decisions (Estadística)
Metges
Statistical decision
Physicians
id ES_93dd80e2b05dd9577ea28aecc7db9683
oai_identifier_str oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/144502
network_acronym_str ES
network_name_str España
repository_id_str
spelling Too Worried to Judge: On the Role of Perceived Severity in Medical Decision-MakingColomé, ÀngelsRodríguez-Ferreiro, JavierTubau Sala, ElisabetPresa de decisions (Estadística)MetgesStatistical decisionPhysiciansIdeally, decisions regarding one's health should be made after assessing the objective probabilities of relevant outcomes. Nevertheless, previous beliefs and emotional reactions also have a role in decision-making. Furthermore, the comprehension of probabilities is commonly affected by the presentation format, and by numeracy. This study aimed to assess the extent to which the influence of these factors might vary between different medical conditions. A sample of university students were presented with two health scenarios containing statistical information on the prevalence of breast cancer and hypertension either through icon arrays (N = 71) or natural frequencies (N = 72). They also received information regarding a preventive measure (mammogram/low-sodium diet) and the likelihood of a positive mammogram or a rich-sodium diet either when suffering or not suffering from the disease. Before seeing the data, participants rated the severity of the disease and the inconvenience of the preventive measure. After reading the health scenario, participants had to rate its difficulty, and how worrisome it was. They had also to rate the prior probability of suffering from this medical condition, and the posterior probability of it, provided a positive mammogram or a rich-sodium diet. Finally, they rated the extent to which they would recommend the preventive measures. All the rates used the same 1 (little)-8 (a great deal) scale. Participants' numeracy was also assessed. The scenarios differed significantly in perceived severity and worry, with the cancer scenario obtaining higher scores. Importantly, regression analyses showed that the recommendations in the two health scenarios depended on different variables. A model taking into consideration severity and worry rates best explained decisions in the cancer scenario; in contrast, in the hypertension scenario the model that best explained the recommendations comprised both the posterior probability estimate and the severity rate. Neither numeracy nor presentation format affected recommendation but both affected difficulty, worrying and probability rates. We conclude that previous perceptions of the severity of a health condition modulate the use of probabilistic information for decision-making. The roles of presentation format and numeracy in enabling patients to understand statistical information are also discussed. IntroductionFrontiers Media2018info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/2445/144502Articles publicats en revistes (Cognició, Desenvolupament i Psicologia de l'Educació)reponame:Dipòsit Digital de la UBinstname:Universidad de BarcelonaInglésReproducció del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01906Frontiers in Psychology, 2018, vol. 9, p. 1906https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01906cc-by (c) Colomé, Àngels et al., 2018http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/esinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/1445022026-05-27T06:46:51Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Too Worried to Judge: On the Role of Perceived Severity in Medical Decision-Making
title Too Worried to Judge: On the Role of Perceived Severity in Medical Decision-Making
spellingShingle Too Worried to Judge: On the Role of Perceived Severity in Medical Decision-Making
Colomé, Àngels
Presa de decisions (Estadística)
Metges
Statistical decision
Physicians
title_short Too Worried to Judge: On the Role of Perceived Severity in Medical Decision-Making
title_full Too Worried to Judge: On the Role of Perceived Severity in Medical Decision-Making
title_fullStr Too Worried to Judge: On the Role of Perceived Severity in Medical Decision-Making
title_full_unstemmed Too Worried to Judge: On the Role of Perceived Severity in Medical Decision-Making
title_sort Too Worried to Judge: On the Role of Perceived Severity in Medical Decision-Making
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Colomé, Àngels
Rodríguez-Ferreiro, Javier
Tubau Sala, Elisabet
author Colomé, Àngels
author_facet Colomé, Àngels
Rodríguez-Ferreiro, Javier
Tubau Sala, Elisabet
author_role author
author2 Rodríguez-Ferreiro, Javier
Tubau Sala, Elisabet
author2_role author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Presa de decisions (Estadística)
Metges
Statistical decision
Physicians
topic Presa de decisions (Estadística)
Metges
Statistical decision
Physicians
description Ideally, decisions regarding one's health should be made after assessing the objective probabilities of relevant outcomes. Nevertheless, previous beliefs and emotional reactions also have a role in decision-making. Furthermore, the comprehension of probabilities is commonly affected by the presentation format, and by numeracy. This study aimed to assess the extent to which the influence of these factors might vary between different medical conditions. A sample of university students were presented with two health scenarios containing statistical information on the prevalence of breast cancer and hypertension either through icon arrays (N = 71) or natural frequencies (N = 72). They also received information regarding a preventive measure (mammogram/low-sodium diet) and the likelihood of a positive mammogram or a rich-sodium diet either when suffering or not suffering from the disease. Before seeing the data, participants rated the severity of the disease and the inconvenience of the preventive measure. After reading the health scenario, participants had to rate its difficulty, and how worrisome it was. They had also to rate the prior probability of suffering from this medical condition, and the posterior probability of it, provided a positive mammogram or a rich-sodium diet. Finally, they rated the extent to which they would recommend the preventive measures. All the rates used the same 1 (little)-8 (a great deal) scale. Participants' numeracy was also assessed. The scenarios differed significantly in perceived severity and worry, with the cancer scenario obtaining higher scores. Importantly, regression analyses showed that the recommendations in the two health scenarios depended on different variables. A model taking into consideration severity and worry rates best explained decisions in the cancer scenario; in contrast, in the hypertension scenario the model that best explained the recommendations comprised both the posterior probability estimate and the severity rate. Neither numeracy nor presentation format affected recommendation but both affected difficulty, worrying and probability rates. We conclude that previous perceptions of the severity of a health condition modulate the use of probabilistic information for decision-making. The roles of presentation format and numeracy in enabling patients to understand statistical information are also discussed. Introduction
publishDate 2018
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2018
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/2445/144502
url https://hdl.handle.net/2445/144502
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Reproducció del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01906
Frontiers in Psychology, 2018, vol. 9, p. 1906
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01906
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv cc-by (c) Colomé, Àngels et al., 2018
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv cc-by (c) Colomé, Àngels et al., 2018
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Frontiers Media
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Frontiers Media
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv Articles publicats en revistes (Cognició, Desenvolupament i Psicologia de l'Educació)
reponame:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
instname:Universidad de Barcelona
instname_str Universidad de Barcelona
reponame_str Dipòsit Digital de la UB
collection Dipòsit Digital de la UB
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
_version_ 1869413632937295872
score 15.300724

Similares en LA Referencia