Patient Doctor Lies

NCT04803448 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 19-059
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 619
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Accurate patient information disclosure is critical to provide optimal treatment. Methods that can detect and then increase the truthfulness of information are relatively unknown. To investigate the impact of communication about privacy, benefits, and risk on patient truthfulness, the investigators test two new methods to detect patient truthfulness and demonstrate the effects of privacy notices (e.g. HIPPA statements). Participants include a national online sample randomly assigned to one of six treatment statements that might be typically given before health information was requested. The assigned treatments include one or mix of the following: privacy notice, statement of the benefits of accurate disclosure, and statement of the risks of inaccurate disclosure and control of no statement before being asked typical health questions. The investigators propose that based on elaboration likelihood model, statements reminding participants of their privacy will increase lying. The investigators hypothesis the use of a new biometric mouse movement lie detection method and answer adjustment can measure patient lies. The investigators hypothesis that reminders of the risk of not telling the truth will reduce lying due to risk aversion. Lastly the investigators hypothesis that statements of benefits of answering truthfully will increase truthfulness.

Conditions

Patient Lying; Privacy Statements; Risk Statements; Benefit Statements; Patient Lie Detection

Keywords

patient lies; lie detection; privacy; risk; benefits

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (10)

• Patient truthfulness - biometric mouse-movement distance

  The measure of the distance (mm) the mouse travels to the response.

  The time frame of data collection will be from when the survey is opened by the participant until it is completed and submitted. This will take 10 - 20 minutes.

• Patient truthfulness - biometric mouse-movement time

  The measure of the time (ms) the mouse travels to the response.

  The time frame of data collection will be from when the survey is opened by the participant until it is completed and submitted. This will take 10 - 20 minutes.

• Patient truthfulness Weight - answer adjustment from -5 to 5 for each health question

  Participants will be given a summary of their answers from their health questions in a read-only format and asked to indicate how over- or understated each initial response was (e.g., "You indicated that your current weight is 185 lbs. How overstated or understated is that value?") on a scale from -5 (understated) to 5 (overstated). The absolute value of their response represents the extent to which participants' initial response deviated from the truth. Participant's actual response to the health questions are NOT an outcome measure but rather how much they adjust their answer on a scale of (-5 to +5).

  The time frame of data collection will be from when the survey is opened by the participant until it is completed and submitted. This will take 10 - 20 minutes.

• Patient truthfulness Height - answer adjustment from -5 to 5 for each health question

  Participant will be shown a summary of their answer from their health question (What is your height in inches) and then respond to how much they under represented the information (-5) to being accurate (0) to overstated the information (+5). Participant response will be on a sliding scale -5 to +5

  The time frame of data collection will be from when the survey is opened by the participant until it is completed and submitted. This will take 10 - 20 minutes.

• Patient truthfulness Drink Alcohol - answer adjustment from -5 to 5 for each health question

  Participant will be shown a summary of their answer from their health question (How many days out of the last 2 weeks did you drink alcohol? (1 = 0 time; 6 = 13-14 times)) and then respond to how much they under represented the information (-5) to being accurate (0) to overstated the information (+5). Participant response will be on a sliding scale -5 to +5

  The time frame of data collection will be from when the survey is opened by the participant until it is completed and submitted. This will take 10 - 20 minutes.

• Patient truthfulness Drug Activity - answer adjustment from -5 to 5 for each health question

  Participant will be shown a summary of their answer from their health question (How often a month do you use other substance such as marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy, or other drugs (1 = never; 6 = all the time)) and then respond to how much they under represented the information (-5) to being accurate (0) to overstated the information (+5). Participant response will be on a sliding scale -5 to +5

  The time frame of data collection will be from when the survey is opened by the participant until it is completed and submitted. This will take 10 - 20 minutes.

• Patient truthfulness Prescription Use - answer adjustment from -5 to 5 for each health question

  Participant will be shown a summary of their answer from their health question (How often a month do you use Rx or non-Rx medications to excessive amounts? (1 = never; 6 = all the time)) and then respond to how much they under represented the information (-5) to being accurate (0) to overstated the information (+5). Participant response will be on a sliding scale -5 to +5

  The time frame of data collection will be from when the survey is opened by the participant until it is completed and submitted. This will take 10 - 20 minutes.

• Patient truthfulness Cigarette Smoking- answer adjustment from -5 to 5 for each health question

  Participant will be shown a summary of their answer from their health question (When was the last time you smoked a cigarette? (1 = 6+ weeks ago to 6 = today)) and then respond to how much they under represented the information (-5) to being accurate (0) to overstated the information (+5). Participant response will be on a sliding scale -5 to +5

  The time frame of data collection will be from when the survey is opened by the participant until it is completed and submitted. This will take 10 - 20 minutes.

• Patient truthfulness Exercise Activity- answer adjustment from -5 to 5 for each health question

  Participant will be shown a summary of their answer from their health question (How many days in the last 2 weeks did you engage in more than 30 min exercise? (1 = 13-14 times; 6 = 0 times)) and then respond to how much they under represented the information (-5) to being accurate (0) to overstated the information (+5). Participant response will be on a sliding scale -5 to +5

  The time frame of data collection will be from when the survey is opened by the participant until it is completed and submitted. This will take 10 - 20 minutes.

• Patient truthfulness Sexual Activity - answer adjustment from -5 to 5 for each health question

  Participant will be shown a summary of their answer from their health question (How many times did you engage in sexual activity in the last month with another individual? (1 = 0; 6 = 20+ times)) and then respond to how much they under represented the information (-5) to being accurate (0) to overstated the information (+5). Participant response will be on a sliding scale -5 to +5

  The time frame of data collection will be from when the survey is opened by the participant until it is completed and submitted. This will take 10 - 20 minutes.

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Gender

  The time frame of data collection will be from when the survey is opened by the participant until it is completed and submitted. This will take 10 - 20 minutes.

Study Arms (6)

Control

NO INTERVENTION

No statement is provided before asking the health care question. Example: What is your weight in pounds?

Benefit Statement

EXPERIMENTAL

A statement of benefit will be given (see intervention) after the health question.

Behavioral: Benefit statement

Risk Statement

EXPERIMENTAL

A statement of risk will be given (see intervention) after the health question.

Behavioral: Risk Statement

Privacy Statement

EXPERIMENTAL

A statement of privacy will be given (see intervention) after the health question.

Behavioral: Privacy Statement

Benefit + Privacy statement

EXPERIMENTAL

A statement of benefit and privacy will be given (see intervention) after the health question.

Behavioral: Benefit + Privacy

Risk + privacy statement

EXPERIMENTAL

A statement of risk and privacy will be given (see intervention) after the health question.

Behavioral: Risk + Privacy

Interventions

Benefit statement BEHAVIORAL

The participant reads this statement after asked one of eight health questions 1. What is your height in inches? 2. What is your weight in pounds? 3. How many days out of the last 2 weeks did you drink alcohol? 4. How often a month do you use other substance such as marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy, or other drugs 5. How often a month do you use Rx or non-Rx medications to excessive amounts? 6. When was the last time you smoked a cigarette? 7. How many days in the last 2 weeks did you engage in more than 30 min exercise? 8. How many times did you engage in sexual activity in the last month with another individual? . The statement reads: Accurately answering this will increase the likelihood of a correct diagnosis. An example of this with one of the 8 health questions is... What number of days in the last 2 weeks you engaged in \>30 minutes of exercise? Accurately answering this will increase the likelihood of a correct diagnosis.

Benefit Statement

Risk Statement BEHAVIORAL

The participant reads this statement after being asked one of eight health questions. The statement reads: Inaccurately answering this will increase the likelihood of an incorrect diagnosis.

Risk Statement

Privacy Statement BEHAVIORAL

The participant reads this statement after being asked one of eight health question for example. "We will not share or sell this personal health information with anyone. We will comply with all HIPPA regulations regarding the protection of your data."

Privacy Statement

Benefit + Privacy BEHAVIORAL

The statement reads "Accurately answering this will increase the likelihood of a correct diagnosis. We will not share or sell this personal health information with anyone. We will comply with all HIPPA regulations regarding the protection of your data."

Benefit + Privacy statement

Risk + Privacy BEHAVIORAL

The statement reads "Inaccurately answering this will increase the likelihood of an incorrect diagnosis. We will not share or sell this personal health information with anyone. We will comply with all HIPPA regulations regarding the protection of your data."

Risk + privacy statement

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 80 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Adults
• Individuals 18-80 years
• English speaking
• Live in the United States

You may not qualify if:

• Participants that do not complete the survey

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Utah: lead

Study Sites (1)

Brigham Young University

Provo, Utah, 84602, United States

Location

Related Publications (11)

• Levy AG, Scherer AM, Zikmund-Fisher BJ, Larkin K, Barnes GD, Fagerlin A. Prevalence of and Factors Associated With Patient Nondisclosure of Medically Relevant Information to Clinicians. JAMA Netw Open. 2018 Nov 2;1(7):e185293. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.5293.

  PMID: 30646397 BACKGROUND

• Jerrold L. Litigation, legislation, and ethics. When patients lie to their doctors. Am J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop. 2011 Mar;139(3):417-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ajodo.2010.09.004. No abstract available.

  PMID: 21392699 BACKGROUND

• Petty RE, Cacioppo JT. The elaboration likelihood model of persuasion. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. 1986;19:123-205

  BACKGROUND

• Lowry PB, Moody G, Vance A, Jensen M, Jenkins J, Wells T. Using an elaboration likelihood approach to better understand the persuasiveness of website privacy assurance cues for online consumers. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology. 2012;63(4):755-776

  BACKGROUND

• Buhrmester M, Kwang T, Gosling SD. Amazon's Mechanical Turk: A New Source of Inexpensive, Yet High-Quality, Data? Perspect Psychol Sci. 2011 Jan;6(1):3-5. doi: 10.1177/1745691610393980. Epub 2011 Feb 3.

  PMID: 26162106 BACKGROUND

• Kahneman D, Tversky A. Prospect theory: an analysis of decision under risk. Econometrica. 1979;47(2):263-291

  BACKGROUND

• Jenkins JL, Proudfoot J, Valacich J, Grimes GM, Nunamaker Jr JF. Sleight of hand: identifying concealed information by monitoring mouse-cursor movements. Journal of the Association for Information Systems. 2019;20(1):1-32

  BACKGROUND

• Keith MJ, Thompson SC, Hale J, Lowry PB, Greer C. Information disclosure on mobile devices: re-examining privacy calculus with actual user behavior. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies. 2013;71(12):1163-1173

  BACKGROUND

• DePaulo BM, Kashy DA, Kirkendol SE, Wyer MM, Epstein JA. Lying in everyday life. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1996 May;70(5):979-95.

  PMID: 8656340 BACKGROUND

• Argo JJ, White K, Dahl DW. Social comparison theory and deception in the interpersonal exchange of consumption information. Journal of Consumer Research. 2006;33(1):99-108

  BACKGROUND

• Marchewka A, Jednorog K, Falkiewicz M, Szeszkowski W, Grabowska A, Szatkowska I. Sex, lies and fMRI--gender differences in neural basis of deception. PLoS One. 2012;7(8):e43076. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0043076. Epub 2012 Aug 29.

  PMID: 22952631 BACKGROUND

Related Links

• Lies patients and doctors tell

MeSH Terms

Interventions

Privacy; Risk

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Civil Rights; Human Rights; Social Control, Formal; Health Care Economics and Organizations; Legislation as Topic; Probability; Statistics as Topic; Epidemiologic Methods; Investigative Techniques; Mathematical Concepts; Health Care Evaluation Mechanisms; Quality of Health Care; Health Care Quality, Access, and Evaluation; Public Health; Environment and Public Health

Study Officials

• Mark Keith, PhD

  Brigham Young University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Masking Details: All participants respond to a request to take an online survey about health. Participants are blind to the purpose of the study and do not know what intervention group they are randomly assigned to by the survey software. Participants intervention is numerically coded so during analysis it is not evident what intervention statement the participant saw.
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: PhD, Assistant Professor

Model Details: Participants are randomly assigned one of 1 intervention statements and then asked health care questions. This is a between subject 6 cell study, the dependent variable is the amount of lying as measured by answer adjustment and biometric mouse-movement under each intervention statement.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 4, 2021
• First Posted: March 17, 2021
• Study Start: February 12, 2020
• Primary Completion: April 19, 2020
• Study Completion: April 19, 2020
• Last Updated: March 17, 2021

Record last verified: 2021-03

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)