Eyler Rachel F, Cordes Sara, Szymanski Benjamin R, Fraenkel Liana
Department of Pharmacy Practice, University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy, Storrs, CT, USA (RFE).
Department of Psychology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA (SC).
Med Decis Making. 2017 Aug;37(6):725-729. doi: 10.1177/0272989X17707198. Epub 2017 May 10.
As patients become more involved in their medical care, they must consider the specific probabilities of both positive and negative outcomes associated with different treatments. Patients who are low in numeracy may be at a disadvantage when making these decisions. This study examined the use of a "spinner" to present probabilistic information compared to a numerical format and icon array.
Subjects ( n = 151) were asked to imagine they suffered from chronic back pain. Two equally effective medications, each with a different incidence of rare and common side effects, were described. Subjects were randomized to 1 of 3 risk presentation formats: numeric only, numeric with icon arrays, or numeric with spinners, and answered questions regarding their risk knowledge, medication preference, and how much they liked the presentation format.
Compared with the numeric only format, both the spinner and icon array increased risk knowledge and were rated more likeable by subjects. Subjects viewing the spinner format were also more likely to prefer the pill with the lowest side-effect burden.
The relatively small size, convenience sample, and hypothetical scenario were limitations of this study.
The use of continuous spinners presents a new approach for communicating risk to patients that may aid in their decision making.
随着患者越来越多地参与自身医疗护理，他们必须考虑不同治疗方法所带来的正面和负面结果的具体概率。算术能力较低的患者在做出这些决策时可能处于劣势。本研究考察了与数字形式和图标阵列相比，使用“转盘”来呈现概率信息的情况。
让受试者（n = 151）想象自己患有慢性背痛。描述了两种同样有效的药物，每种药物罕见和常见副作用的发生率不同。受试者被随机分配到三种风险呈现形式中的一种：仅数字形式、带图标阵列的数字形式或带转盘的数字形式，并回答有关其风险知识、药物偏好以及对呈现形式的喜爱程度的问题。
与仅数字形式相比，转盘和图标阵列都增加了风险知识，并且受试者对它们的评价更高。观看转盘形式的受试者也更有可能选择副作用负担最低的药物。
本研究的局限性在于样本规模相对较小、样本便利性以及采用了假设情景。
使用连续转盘为向患者传达风险提供了一种新方法，可能有助于他们做出决策。
