Factors predicting desired autonomy in medical decisions: Risk-taking and gambling behaviors

Abstract

This study investigated factors that influence patients’ desired level of autonomy in medical decisions. Analyses included previously supported demographic variables in addition to risk-taking and gambling behaviors, which exhibit a strong relationship with overall health and decision-making, but have not been investigated in conjunction with medical autonomy. Participants (N = 203) completed measures on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, including two measures of autonomy. Two hierarchical regressions revealed that the predictors explained a significant amount of variance for both measures, but the contribution of predictor variables was incongruent between models. Possible causes for this incongruence and implications for patient–physician interactions are discussed.

The Impact of Patient Autonomy Among Uninsured Free Clinic Patients

“…Existing literature indicates that many factors contribute to the amount of autonomy a patient exhibits in making medical decisions. 10 Uninsured primary care patients tend to experience barriers to autonomy in clinical decision-making. These barriers may include limited access to healthcare resources, low health literacy, and cultural or linguistic barriers.…”

“…Existing literature indicates that many factors contribute to the amount of autonomy a patient exhibits in making medical decisions. 10 …”

Trustworthy faces make people more risk‐tolerant: The effect of facial trustworthiness on risk decision‐making under gain and loss conditions

“…In addition, people were also willing to distribute more money to facially more highly trustworthy individuals in the Trust Game (Qi et al, 2018;Rezlescu et al, 2012;Stirrat & Perrett, 2010;van't Wout & Sanfey, 2008). In real-world settings, when presented with a medical scenario, people were more accepting of medical decisions if they perceived their physicians as more trustworthy (Fortune et al, 2016). Even in mock trials, facial trustworthiness could influence the verdict: Facially more attractive individuals were often found less guilty or receive less punishment (Mazzella & Feingold, 2006).…”