A new study probes how we make such tricky decisions, and how our decisions might change dramatically if we step back and put ourselves in the shoes of others.

The findings may help individuals who face tough health choices, and decision makers who make choices for larger groups. It may also help illuminate situations where individuals make medical decisions that go against the advice from experts and authorities, and help guide doctors in advising patients.

In the June issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine, a team from the University of Michigan Medical School and the Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System report the results of a medical decision making study involving nearly 2,400 people of all ages and backgrounds who completed extensive online questionnaires.

Study participants were first randomly divided into four groups. People in one group of participants were asked to imagine themselves as patients in two different medical scenarios -- an experimental vaccine against a deadly flu and chemotherapy for a slow-growing cancer -- and asked to choose either to get the medical option or to take their chances without it. Each of the options carried risks and benefits, though the statistically better choice in each scenario was to get the vaccine or chemotherapy.

The remaining three groups of participants also read the same medical scenarios, but they were asked to think about the problem from different perspectives. One group put themselves in the shoes of a doctor advising a patient, another took the role of a parent deciding for a child, and a third group imagined being a medical director of a hospital
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Contact: Kara Gavin
kegavin@umich.edu
734-764-2220
University of Michigan Health System
31-May-2006