Hoboken, N.J., August 2, 2024—When visiting a doctor, patients should be open about their symptoms, behaviors, and beliefs to ensure proper diagnosis and treatment.
However, new research from the Stevens Institute of Technology shows that many fear being judged for sharing incorrect beliefs with their doctors. The study found that doctors often view patients more negatively when disclosing wrong or unreasonable beliefs.
People worry about doctors judging them, and they’re right.” The study shows that doctors judge patients harshly if they share beliefs they disagree with.
Dr. Kleinberg and her team surveyed over 350 patients and 200 doctors to understand this. They asked about different medical beliefs, ranging from true to false statements.
Some beliefs were reasonable, like thinking sugar causes diabetes; some were unreasonable, like believing carrot juice cures diabetes; and some were conspiracy theories, like thinking pharmaceutical companies cause diabetes on purpose. Dr. Onur Asan and Dr. Jessecae K. Marsh co-authored the study.
Researchers were surprised by the extent to which doctors have negative views about patients with incorrect beliefs. This suggests that doctors need more support to treat these patients effectively.
The more unreasonable a person’s health beliefs are, the more negatively they are judged by the public and healthcare professionals. People were viewed negatively if they had mistaken beliefs, but much more so if those beliefs were unreasonable or conspiratorial.
Surprisingly, there was little difference between doctors’doctors’ and the public’spublic’s responses. Even patients with chronic health conditions were very intolerant of others with mistaken beliefs. Researchers thought people with diabetes might be more sympathetic, but they weren’t weren’t,
Doctors also judged people negatively for having mistaken health beliefs. Dr. Kleinberg said, “That was surprising and disappointing. Laypeople aren’t expected to have medical expertise, so correcting mistaken beliefs shouldn’t make doctors view patients more negatively.”
Surveys show most people hold some incorrect health beliefs, like thinking vitamin C cures colds or sugary snacks cause diabetes. This makes it essential for people to feel comfortable asking doctors for advice.
Laypeople often can’t tell if their beliefs are correct or reasonable, so they may withhold even true beliefs to avoid negative judgment from doctors. More research is needed to understand how these negative perceptions affect patient-doctor interactions.
Dr. Kleinberg said, “Doctors must make patients feel safe and comfortable. “For better communication, doctors must change how they think about misinformed patients and encourage them to share their thoughts, even if they’re incorrect.”
Journal reference :
- Jessecae K. Marsh, Onur Asan, et al., Perceived Penalties for Sharing Patient Beliefs with Health Care Providers. Medical Decision Making. DOI:10.1177/0272989X241262241.
