Frosch Dominick L, Kimmel Stephen, Volpp Kevin
David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California-Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA.
Health Psychol. 2008 May;27(3):320-6. doi: 10.1037/0278-6133.27.3.320.
Some people take the disease label "hypertension" literally; leading to the belief that increasing relaxation instead of medication is the best treatment for this condition. We experimentally tested the effect of such underlying beliefs on ratings of interventions for hypertension and compared alternative communication strategies to increase medication effectiveness ratings.
Outpatients (N = 152) with a known diagnosis of hypertension read a vignette describing an asymptomatic condition and recommended treatment. Experimental factors were the disease label (Hypertension vs. Korotkoff's Syndrome) and type of argument designed to persuade the reader that medication is most effective (Causal vs. Correlational).
Background measures included demographics, beliefs that stress causes health problems and trust in physicians. Outcomes were effectiveness ratings for interventions to treat the condition.
Participants who read a vignette describing "Hypertension" rated "relaxing more" as significantly more effective than participants exposed to the same condition but with the unfamiliar "Korotkoff's Syndrome" label, [F(1, 141) = 5.22, p = .024]. However, medication, reducing salty foods and losing weight were rated as more effective than relaxing more. Intervention ratings did not differ by type of argument presented. There was a significant interaction of disease label and trust in physicians [F(1, 125) = 7.01, p = .009]. Individuals with low trust rated medication as significantly less effective when exposed to an unfamiliar disease label.
This study confirms the effect of the hypertension disease label on ratings of different interventions for the condition. However, participants rated biomedically recommended interventions as more effective than those not endorsed.
一些人从字面上理解“高血压”这个疾病标签，从而认为增加放松而非药物治疗是这种病症的最佳治疗方法。我们通过实验测试了这些潜在信念对高血压干预措施评分的影响，并比较了不同的沟通策略以提高药物治疗效果评分。
152名已知患有高血压的门诊患者阅读了一篇描述无症状病情及推荐治疗方法的短文。实验因素包括疾病标签（高血压与柯氏综合征）以及旨在说服读者相信药物治疗最有效的论据类型（因果关系与相关性）。
背景测量包括人口统计学信息、认为压力会导致健康问题的信念以及对医生的信任度。结果指标是治疗该病症的干预措施的效果评分。
阅读描述“高血压”短文的参与者认为“更多放松”比阅读相同病情但使用不熟悉的“柯氏综合征”标签的参与者更有效，[F(1, 141) = 5.22, p = .024]。然而，药物治疗、减少高盐食物摄入和减肥被认为比更多放松更有效。干预措施的评分不因所呈现的论据类型而有所不同。疾病标签与对医生的信任度之间存在显著交互作用[F(1, 125) = 7.01, p = .009]。信任度低的个体在接触不熟悉的疾病标签时，认为药物治疗效果显著较差。
本研究证实了高血压疾病标签对该病症不同干预措施评分的影响。然而，参与者认为生物医学推荐的干预措施比未获认可的干预措施更有效。
