‘I’ll do what they did”: Social norm information and cancer treatment decisions

Brian J Zikmund-Fisher; Paul D Windschitl; Nicole Exe; Peter A Ubel

doi:10.1016/j.pec.2011.01.031

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‘I’ll do what they did”: Social norm information and cancer treatment decisions

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

‘I’ll do what they did”: Social norm information and cancer treatment decisions

Brian J Zikmund-Fisher, Paul D Windschitl, Nicole Exe and Peter A Ubel

Patient education and counseling, Vol.85(2), pp.225-229

11/2011

DOI: 10.1016/j.pec.2011.01.031

PMCID: PMC3138856

PMID: 21367557

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Abstract

Using a cancer-treatment scenario, we tested whether descriptive norm information (e.g., the proportion of other people choosing a particular treatment) would influence people's hypothetical treatment choices. Women from an Internet sample (Study 1 N=2238; Study 2 N=2154) were asked to imagine deciding whether to take adjuvant chemotherapy following breast cancer surgery. Across participants, we varied the stated proportion of women who chose chemotherapy. This descriptive norm information was presented numerically in Study 1 and non-numerically in Study 2. The descriptive norm information influenced women's decisions, with higher interest in chemotherapy when social norm information suggested that such chemotherapy was popular. Exact statistics about other people's decisions had a greater effect than when norms were described using less precise verbal terms (e.g., “most women”). Providing patients with information about what other people have done can significantly influence treatment choices, but the power of such descriptive norms depends on their precision. Communication of descriptive norms is only helpful if prevailing decisions in the population represent good clinical practice. Strategic presentation of such statistics, when available, may encourage patient outliers to modify their medical decisions in ways that result in improved outcomes.

Cancer treatment decisions

Decision making

Descriptive norm information

Social norms

Details

Title: Subtitle: ‘I’ll do what they did”: Social norm information and cancer treatment decisions
Creators: Brian J Zikmund-Fisher - Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Paul D Windschitl - Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
Nicole Exe - Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Peter A Ubel - Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Patient education and counseling, Vol.85(2), pp.225-229
DOI: 10.1016/j.pec.2011.01.031
PMID: 21367557
PMCID: PMC3138856
NLM abbreviation: Patient Educ Couns
ISSN: 0738-3991
eISSN: 1873-5134
Publisher: Elsevier Ireland Ltd
Grant note: R01 CA87595 / National Institutes for Health/National Cancer Institute
Language: English
Date published: 11/2011
Academic Unit: Psychological and Brain Sciences
Record Identifier: 9984214746802771

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