Taking into account the observers’ uncertainty: a graduated approach to the credibility of the patient’s pain evaluation |
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Authors: | Patrice Rusconi Paolo Riva Paolo Cherubini Lorenzo Montali |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza Ateneo Nuovo 1, 20126 Milano, Italy |
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Abstract: | This article presents two experiments aiming to investigate the adoption of a graduated measure to describe credibility attribution
by observers who evaluate patients’ pain accounts. A total of 160 medical students were required to express a credibility
judgment on the pain intensity level of hypothetical patients. We used 16 vignettes based on a factorial mixed-design. Within-participants
factors were the reported pain, the presence of a physical sign, the patient’s facial expression and the patient’s gender,
and between-groups factors were the patient’s age and the geographical distribution of the patient’s name. Results confirm
the well-established tendency not to believe patients’ self-reports and provide information regarding the evaluators’ uncertainty.
The findings suggest that a graduated measure is useful for assessing the degree of uncertainty of the observers and subtle
effects of different factors upon the judgment of patient’s pain. |
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Keywords: | |
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