Explaining all without causing unnecessary harm: Is there scope for positively framing medical risk information?

R K Webster; J Weinman; G J Rubin

doi:10.1016/j.pec.2018.09.014

Explaining all without causing unnecessary harm: Is there scope for positively framing medical risk information?

Patient Educ Couns. 2019 Mar;102(3):602-603. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2018.09.014. Epub 2018 Sep 15.

Authors

R K Webster¹, J Weinman², G J Rubin³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College London, London, UK; NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Emergency Preparedness and Response, King's College London, London, UK. Electronic address: Rebecca.webster@kcl.ac.uk.
² School of Cancer and Pharmaceutical Sciences, King's College London, London, UK; NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Emergency Preparedness and Response, King's College London, London, UK.
³ Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College London, London, UK; NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Emergency Preparedness and Response, King's College London, London, UK.

PMID: 30243771
DOI: 10.1016/j.pec.2018.09.014

Abstract

Clinicians in the United Kingdom are now legally obliged to tell patients about every risk involved in prescribed medical treatments. Although important for informed consent, warning patients of risks such as side-effects can increase the incidence of these very side-effects, through the nocebo effect. Positively framing risk information could be a potential solution to this dilemma, and preliminary data has shown it is effective in healthy volunteers receiving a sham drug. Future research is needed to test its effectiveness in a clinical population.

Keywords: Nocebo effects; Positive framing; Risk communication; Side-Effects.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Consumer Health Information*
Disclosure / ethics
Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions*
Ethics, Medical*
Humans
Informed Consent / psychology
Nocebo Effect
Physician-Patient Relations*