Highlights
- •This is the first study to make individuals aware of whether a virtual human's sex, race, or age influences their decision making.
- •We assessed the participants' knowledge of their cue use.
- •Findings suggest that a majority of the individuals who were made aware of their demographic cue use would be willing to participate in an online intervention.
Abstract
Demographic characteristics have been found to influence pain management decisions,
but limited focus has been placed on participants' reactions to feedback about their
use of sex, race, or age to make these decisions. The present study aimed to examine
the effects of providing feedback about the use of demographic cues to participants
making pain management decisions. Participants (N = 107) viewed 32 virtual human patients
with standardized levels of pain and provided ratings for virtual humans' pain intensity
and their treatment decisions. Real-time lens model idiographic analyses determined
participants' decision policies based on cues used. Participants were subsequently
informed about cue use and completed feedback questions. Frequency analyses were conducted
on responses to these questions. Between 7.4 and 89.4% of participants indicated awareness
of their use of demographic or pain expression cues. Of those individuals, 26.9 to
55.5% believed this awareness would change their future clinical decisions, and 66.6
to 75.9% endorsed that their attitudes affect their imagined clinical practice. Between
66.6 and 79.1% of participants who used cues reported willingness to complete an online
tutorial about pain across demographic groups. This study was novel because it provided
participants feedback about their cue use. Most participants who used cues indicated
willingness to participate in an online intervention, suggesting this technology's
utility for modifying biases.
Perspective
This is the first study to make individuals aware of whether a virtual human's sex,
race, or age influences their decision making. Findings suggest that a majority of
the individuals who were made aware of their use of demographic cues would be willing
to participate in an online intervention.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 11, 2014
Accepted:
August 3,
2014
Received in revised form:
July 22,
2014
Received:
April 26,
2014
Footnotes
This research was funded by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research through a grant (R01DE013208) to M.E.R.
The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.
Identification
Copyright
© 2014 American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
