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Classifying patients as 'active' or 'passive' with regard to healthcare decision making is misleading, since patients have different desires for different components of the decision-making process. Distinguishing patient' desired roles is an essential step towards promoting care that respects and responds to individual patients' preferences. We included items on the 2004 Wisconsin Longitudinal Study mail survey measuring preferences for four components of the decision-making process: physician knowledge of patient medical history, physician disclosure of treatment choices, discussion of treatment choices, and selection of treatment choice. We characterized preference types for 5199 older adults using cluster analysis. Ninety-six percent of respondents are represented by four preference types, all of which prefer maximal information exchange with physicians. Fifty-seven percent of respondents wanted to retain personal control over important medical decisions ('autonomists'). Among the autonomists, 81% preferred to discuss treatment choices with their physician. Thirty-nine percent of respondents wanted their physician to make important medical decisions ('delegators'). Among the delegators, 41% preferred to discuss treatment choices. Female gender, higher educational attainment, better self-rated health, fewer prescription medications, and having a shorter duration at a usual place of care predicted a significantly higher probability of the most active involvement in discussing and selecting treatment choices. The overwhelming majority of Older adults want to be given treatment options and have their physician know everything about their medical history; however, there are substantial differences in how they want to be involved in discussing and selecting treatments. Keywords: US; Decision making; Patient preferences; Communication; Survey research; Cluster analysis

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional gastrointestinal illness, characterized by potentially debilitating symptoms without pathologic findings, often associated with psychological conditions. Little is known about the psychosocial aspects of this condition on an international scale. A total of 239 patients in eight countries were given a series of psychological and medical questionnaires, including IBS activity, relationships with significant others, beliefs regarding the etiology of symptoms, and assessment of quality of life. There were highly significant associations between IBS severity and all other measures. Symptoms were worse if relationship conflict was high and if attributions about illness were physiological rather than psychological. Symptoms were less severe if relationship depth and support were high, and illness was viewed as psychological. Implications for treatment are discussed. Keywords: Irritable bowel syndrome; Family dynamics; Cross-cultural; Mind-body

Patients with chronic health conditions often rate their quality of life (QoL) significantly higher than non-patients. One explanation for this discrepancy is that non-patients focus on the negative aspects of the onset of a condition, especially the early difficulties people face when they first experience a debilitating condition, without considering that patients can adapt to it over time. To test this hypothesis, we had 359 people perform person tradeoff (PTO) elicitations in an online survey, varying whether the treatment programs under consideration saved the lives of patients (a) with pre-existing paraplegia; or (b) who would experience new onset of paraplegia. Half of each group completed an 'adaptation exercise' which encouraged them to consider their own ability to emotionally adapt to negative events in general and specifically to having paraplegia. The adaptation manipulation increased the value participants placed on pre-existing paraplegia (p = 0.03) and on new onset paraplegia (p = 0.05), relative to saving healthy lives. Moreover, the adaptation exercise dramatically reduced the differences between evaluations of pre-existing and new onset paraplegia to values within 2% of each other. Our findings suggest that asking non-patients to do an adaptation exercise before giving QoL ratings may help close the gap in ratings between patients and citizen non-patients. Keywords: Adaptation; Person tradeoff; Health state valuation; Cost-effectiveness analysis; Utility measure; Internet survey

All Australian citizens are provided affordable access to prescription medicines through the nation's system of universal pharmaceutical subsidies the pharmaceutical benefits scheme. The rapid increase in pharmaceutical related expenditure has generated the concern that Australians are taking advantage of prescription subsidies and are using more medicines than are necessary, thereby creating a 'moral hazard'. This concern is predicated on a number of assumptions about patient behaviour rather than on empirical observation. These assumptions amount to a view that patients are consumers who treat prescription medicines as common goods subject to reformed and rational calculation of the cost and benefits of their use. This paper reports the findings of an in-depth interview study undertaken to explore how prescription cost influences Australians' medicine use. Qualitative data were analysed to compare medicine users' descriptions of the role of prescription cost in medicine use against the assumptions that underlie the belief in moral hazard. Moral hazard did not appear to be significantly operating in the accounts of medicine use collected for this study. Interviewees' accounts of medicine use revealed an act characterised by ambivalance, a mix of desire and antipathy, faith and suspicion. Medicines appeared in interviewees' accounts as both pharmacologically and symbolically potent substances, which despite their familiarity as objects, are often mysterious to non-expert patients. Cost appeared as a secondary factor in patients' decision to access a prescription medicine. Using a prescription was predicated on the medicine being necessary, with necessity typically established by an expert doctor prescribing the medicine. Prescription medicines did not appear as 'common goods' where subsidised access motivates a 'consumer' to demand more or make the prospect of prescription use more attractive or necessary. Keywords: Pharmaceuticals; Moral hazard; Prescription costs; Patient demand; Australia

Patients' beliefs concerning the causes of their illnesses are core to a number of theoretical models of illness behaviour. The current study explored the themes that emerged from patients' accounts of the causes of their first myocardial infarctions (MIs). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 patients within a week of their MI. at a UK district hospital. Transcripts were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Three researchers noted themes that emerged from each interview, then common themes were selected and refined on the basis of an aggregation of interviews. Three dominant themes emerged: (1) single versus multiple causation, (2) causes as triggers versus underlying dispositions, and (3) the potentially conflicting motives of avoiding blame whilst at the same time, seeking control. Whilst many participants had complex ideas concerning what caused their MI, and could often name several causes, they tended to emphasise the importance of a single cause, which often related to their symptoms. Further, several participants interpreted 'cause' in terms of an acute trigger of MI, rather than as a chronic causal factor. Participants were apparently attempting to answer the question about why they had an MI now, leading to talk about single causes that trigger MI. By contrast, much previous research has been concerned with patients' knowledge of 'risk factors', considering the production of only a few causes to reflect ignorance. A key process in participants attributing cause appeared to be attempting to avoid blaming themselves or others for their MI, whilst simultaneously seeking to assert control over future recurrence. Analysis of the functions and purposes of causal attribution suggests that patients' focus on blame and control may be both emotionally and behaviourally adaptive, if not necessarily epidemiologically precise. These findings suggest that interventions to change causal attributions may be misguided, and may even be harmful. Keywords: Causal attribution; Myocardial infarction; Interpretative phenomenological analysis; Stress; UK

In this era of shared doctor-patient decision-making, clicking and incorporating patients' treatment choices is essential to ensure all patients receive the treatment that is right for them. Clinicians and researchers should fully understand the many factors that influence and guide patients in their preferences for treatment. One of these influences is an individual's general risk propensity or willingness to take risks, yet there is little in the literature about methods for measuring risk propensity. A systematic review was undertaken to identify instruments that measure risk propensity and to appraise their validity and relevance for a clinical setting. Of 3546 articles, 139 were potentially relevant. From these, 14 instruments were identified. Eight measured risk propensity, whereas six measured personality traits associated with risk propensity. Most instruments demonstrated good internal reliability but their appropriateness for patients, particularly older adults, remains unclear. While no instrument was specific to or tested in a clinical setting, instruments that directly measured risk propensity were considered to be the most useful for clinical populations. The further adaptation and validation of these instruments among older adults are important avenues for future research. Keywords. Risk propensity; Patient preferences; Systematic review

Do 'informed' or 'expert' patients challenge dominant traditions in biomedicine or simply adopt these as conventional ways of thinking about body shape and size, illness and health? This paper examines this question in relation to the use of the weight-loss drug Xenical by participants in an Internet forum for obese and overweight people. Ethnographic and interview data from the forum provides evidence that participants share information and support each other as they use Xenical, and in the process emerge as 'expert patients' in relation to their body shape and its treatment. However, it is argued that while an 'expert patient' can be perceived as desirable, enabling the democratisation of healthcare, it can also be constraining. The exchanges between the users in the forum perpetuate a biomedical model of overweight as a condition to be overcome. The discussion critically considers a number of options for the development of the expert patient, including the emergence of an 'informed consumer'. Keywords: Consumer; Expert patient; Internet; Medical model; Xenical; Weight loss

Although the relevance of patients' views about medicines for their medicine taking behaviour is now well established, little is known about the ways in which these views are discussed in primary care consultations. In particular, many studies have demonstrated patients' aversion to medicines. This paper examines the form that aversion talk takes in the consultation and how doctors respond to patients' expression of aversion to medicines. It is based on a dataset of 35 case studies of general practice consultations in England. In interviews with researchers, aversion to medicines was expressed in 34 of the 35 cases. In consultations with doctors, aversion was expressed in 10 cases. The interactional dimension of aversion talk in consultations was analysed using Conversation Analysis, and two general patterns were identified. Aversion could be used as an interactional resource, or it could be a topic in its own right. If used as an interactional resource, no real discussion of patients' views of medicines took place. When aversion was a conversational topic in its own right, two situations were observed. Firstly, the doctor elicited patients' views directly. Secondly, patients initiated aversive talk using a range of indirect strategies to do so. Even when patients managed to express their aversion to medicines, doctors did not engage them in any real discussion of their views. A scheme of interpretation is suggested to explain these findings. In this scheme patients perceive medicines to be an extension of the doctor and to be beneficial. In this view it is right for doctors to prescribe medicines and for patients to take medicines. The results of this paper suggest that using aversion as an interactional resource might be the only sale way for patients to express their aversion without seeming to breach the social contract. Keywords: Communication; Prescribing; Primary care; Patients' views; UK

The discourse of the patient as an active agent in managing illness and health care has become very important in medicine. It is seen in the significance attached to patient empowerment and participation, and in the burgeoning research into patients' coping with illness. The discourse cannot be fully understood from within conventional scientific frameworks because it is part of those frameworks. Instead, its current prominence can be understood by examining how it meets the needs of those who use it. Specifically, it has combined with earlier discourses of disease in a way that allows clinicians to withdraw from responsibility for areas of patient need that are problematic for medicine, such as unexplained symptoms, chronic disease and pain. This view is supported by evidence about how the discourse of patient as agent has been used in clinical consultation to constrain doctors' responsibility for patients' suffering. This discourse and other ways in which doctors and patients influence the boundaries of medical responsibility should be subjects for, rather than constraints on, empirical research. Keywords: Patient empowerment; Discourse; Clinical responsibility

Interest in how qualitative health research might be used more widely to inform health policy and medical practice is growing. Synthesising findings from individual qualitative studies may be one method but application of conventional systematic review methodology to qualitative research presents significant philosophical and practical challenges. The aim here was to examine the feasibility of synthesising qualitative research using qualitative methodology including a formative evaluation of criteria for assessing the research to be synthesised. Ten qualitative studies of adult patients' perspectives of diabetes were purposefully selected and questions proposed by the critical appraisal skills programme (CASP) adapted and used to assess papers prior to synthesis. Each study was reviewed independently by two experienced social scientists. The level of agreement between reviewers was determined. Three papers were excluded: one because it turned out not to be qualitative research, one because the quality of the empirical work was poor and one because the qualitative findings reported were also recorded in another paper already included. The synthesis, which had two distinct elements, was conducted using the recta-ethnographic method. Firstly, four papers containing typologics of patient responses to diabetes were synthesised. Secondly, six key concepts were identified from all seven papers as being important in enabling a person with diabetes to achieve a balance in their lives and to attain a sense of well-being and control. These included: time and experience, trust in self, a less subservient approach to care providers, strategic non-compliance with medication, effective support from care providers and an acknowledgement that diabetes is serious. None of the studies included in the synthesis referenced any of the early papers nor did they appear to have taken account of or built upon previous findings. This evaluation confirmed that recta-ethnography can lead to a synthesis and extension of qualitative research in a defined field of study. In addition, from it a practical method of qualitative research assessment evolved. This process is promising but requires further testing and evaluation before it could be recommended for more widespread adoption. Keywords: Qualitative research; Meta-ethnography; Patient perspectives; Diabetes mellitus

Accident and Emergency Departments (A&E) have been a popular source of primary care, and studies have shown that up to two thirds of patients attending A&E have problems that could be managed by general practitioners (GPs). Although many studies have found that patients of lower socio-economic class with less social support have a higher utilization rate of A&E, some recent studies have revealed contrary evidence. In this study 2410 patients were randomly selected from four A&E at different times. The gold standard in differentiating true emergency cases and GP cases was based on a retrospective record review conducted independently by a panel of emergency physicians. Two emergency physicians reviewed each case independently, and if their independent ratings were in agreement, this became the gold standard. Patients classified as GP cases were given a telephone interview, and a sample was selected and matched with cases from general out patient clinics (GOPC) in the public sector by morbidity. Reasons for not attending a private GP included closure of clinic, deterioration of symptoms, GPs' inability to diagnose properly, and patients' wish to continue medical treatment in the same hospital. Reasons why non-urgent patients did not choose to attend the nearby public GOPC included affordability, closure of the GOPC, patients' wish to continue treatment at the same hospital, GOPC too far away, no improvement shown after visits to GOPC doctors, and GOPC doctors' inability to make proper diagnoses. The reasons for high level of utilization of A&E services are complex and reflect problems of delivery of GP services. There is an urgent need for GPs to set up a network system to provide out of hours services, and also for a better interfacing between primary and secondary care, and between public and private sectors, so that patients can be referred back to GPs. Interim clinical services provided to those non-urgent cases by nursing practitioners or by GPs working in A&E could also facilitate discharge of patients to primary care facilities. Keywords: Emergency services; Utilization of services; Hong Kong

We compared compliance behavior in acute (n=670) and chronic (n=172) patients visiting the Emergency Department (E.D.) of an acute care, private hospital; compliance was operationalized as scheduling or keeping a follow-up referral appointment originating in the Emergency Department. The purposes of the study were to assess demographic and illness experience differences among patients and to assess the relative impact of a Health Belief Model Intervention on compliance in acute versus chronic patients. Within the acute and chronic categories patients were randomized into four experimental groups to test the efficacy of the HBM intervention. Although chronic patients were generally more compliant than acute patients, the HBM interventions were equally effective in increasing compliance in both groups. Chronic patients were older, more likely to have had previous treatment for an illness, and more likely to regard the potential consequences of their illness as serious; these factors were associated with greater compliance. Key words--compliance, Health Belief Model, chronic disease, Emergency Department