Attitudes Toward Engagement in Citizen Science Increase Self-Related, Ecology-Related, and Motivation-Related Outcomes in an Urban Wildlife Project.

Citizen science projects are crucial for engaging citizens in conservation efforts. Although attitudes toward engagement in citizen science were mostly considered an outcome of citizen science participation, citizens may also have a certain attitude toward engagement in citizen science when starting with a citizen science project. Moreover, there is a lack of citizen science studies that consider changes over longer periods of time. Therefore, in this research, we present two-wave data from four field studies of a citizen science project about urban wildlife ecology using cross-lagged panel analyses. We investigated the influence of attitudes toward engagement in citizen science on self-related, ecology-related, and motivation-related outcomes. We found that positive attitudes toward engagement in citizen science at the beginning of the project had positive influences on the participants' psychological ownership and pride in their participation, their attitudes toward and enthusiasm about wildlife, and their internal and external motivation 2 months later. We discuss the implications for citizen science research and practice.

False certainty in the acquisition of anatomical and physiotherapeutic knowledge.

BACKGROUND: Efficient metacognitive monitoring, that is the monitoring of one's own thought processes and specifically one's state of knowledge, is essential for effective clinical reasoning. Knowing what one does and does not know is a competency that students of health professions need to develop. Students often tend to develop false certainty in their own knowledge in the longer course of their education, but the time frame that is required for this effect to occur has remained unclear. We investigated whether students developed false certainty already after one course unit. METHODS: This study analysed data from one sample of medical students and four samples of physiotherapy students in two formal educational settings (total N = 255) who took knowledge tests before and after a course unit. We examined changes in students' confidence separately for correctly and incorrectly answered questions and analysed their ability to assign higher levels of confidence to correct answers than to incorrect answers (discrimination ability). RESULTS: Students' knowledge as well as confidence in their correct answers in knowledge tests increased after learning. However, consistently for all samples, confidence in incorrect answers increased as well. Students' discrimination ability improved only in two out of the five samples. CONCLUSIONS: Our results are in line with recent research on confidence increase of health professions students during education. Extending those findings, our study demonstrated that learning in two different formal educational settings increased confidence not only in correct but also in incorrect answers to knowledge questions already after just one learning session. Our findings highlight the importance of improving metacognition in the education of health professionals-especially their ability to know what they do not know.

Decision aids to prepare patients for shared decision making: Two randomized controlled experiments on the impact of awareness of preference-sensitivity and personal motives.

OBJECTIVE: To participate in shared decision making (SDM), patients need to understand their options and develop trust in their own decision-making abilities. Two experiments investigated the potential of decision aids (DAs) in preparing patients for SDM by raising awareness of preference-sensitivity (Study 1) and showing possible personal motives for decision making (Study 2) in addition to providing information about the treatment options. METHODS: Participants (Study 1: N = 117; Study 2: N = 217) were put into two scenarios (Study 1: cruciate ligament rupture; Study 2: contraception), watched a consultation video and were randomized into one of three groups where they received additional information in the form of (a) narrative patient testimonials; (b) non-narrative decision strategies; and (c) an unrelated text (control group). RESULTS: Participants who viewed the patient testimonials or decision strategies felt better prepared for a decision (Study 1: P < .001, ηP2  = 0.43; Study 2: P < .001, ηP2  = 0.57) and evaluated the decision-making process more positively (Study 2: P < .001, ηP2  = 0.13) than participants in the control condition. Decision certainty (Study 1: P < .001, ηP2  = 0.05) and satisfaction (Study 1: P < .001, ηP2  = 0.11; Study 2: P = .003, d = 0.29) were higher across all conditions after watching the consultation video, and certainty and satisfaction were lower in the control condition (Study 2: P < .001, ηP2  = 0.05). DISCUSSION: Decision aids that explain preference-sensitivity and personal motives can be beneficial for improving people's feelings of being prepared and their perception of the decision-making process. To reach decision certainty and satisfaction, being well informed of one's options is particularly relevant. We discuss the implications of our findings for future research and the design of DAs.

The impact of a physician's recommendation and gender on informed decision making: A randomized controlled study in a simulated decision situation.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the influence of physicians' recommendations and gender on the decision-making process in a preference-sensitive situation. METHODS: N = 201 participants were put in a hypothetical scenario in which they suffered from a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). They received general information on two equally successful treatment options for this injury (surgery vs physiotherapy) and answered questions regarding their treatment preference, certainty and satisfaction regarding their decision and attitude towards the treatment options. Then, participants watched a video that differed regarding physician's recommendation (surgery vs physiotherapy) and physician's gender (female vs male voice and picture). Afterwards, they indicated again their treatment preference, certainty, satisfaction and attitude, as well as the physician's professional and social competence. RESULTS: Participants changed their treatment preferences in the direction of the physician's recommendation (P < .001). Decision certainty (P < .001) and satisfaction (P < .001) increased more strongly if the physician's recommendation was congruent with the participant's prior attitude than if the recommendation was contrary to the participant's prior attitude. Finally, participants' attitudes towards the recommended treatment became more positive (surgery recommendation: P < .001; physiotherapy recommendation: P < .001). We found no influence of the physician's gender on participants' decisions, attitudes, or competence assessments. CONCLUSION: This research indicates that physicians should be careful with recommendations when aiming for shared decisions, as they might influence patients even if the patients have been made aware that they should take their personal preferences into account. This could be particularly problematic if the recommendation is not in line with the patient's preferences.

The impact of physicians' recommendations on treatment preference and attitudes: a randomized controlled experiment on shared decision-making.

Making decisions based on their own evaluation of relevant information and beliefs is very challenging for patients. Many patients feel that they lack the knowledge to make a decision and expect a recommendation by their physician. We conducted an experimental study to examine the impact of physicians' recommendations on the decision-making process. N = 194 medical laypeople were placed in a hypothetical scenario where they suffered from a cruciate ligament rupture and were faced with the decision about a treatment (surgery or physiotherapy). In a 3 × 2 between-group design we investigated the impact of physicians' recommendations (for surgery, for physiotherapy, no recommendation) and reasoning style (scientific, narrative) on treatment preference, certainty and satisfaction regarding treatment preference, and attitudes. We found that the recommendation had a significant influence on treatment preference and attitudes toward both treatments. Additionally, we found a significant increase in certainty and satisfaction after the intervention, independently of whether they received a recommendation. This finding suggested that a recommendation was not required to strengthen participants' confidence in their decision. There were no effects of reasoning style. We discuss the implications and suggest that physicians should be careful with recommendations in situations in which patients' preferences are important.

Development of domain-specific epistemological beliefs of physiotherapists: a longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND: Epistemological beliefs (EBs) and therapeutic health concepts are two important factors of influence that affect how healthcare professionals process treatment-relevant information. A previous investigation compared physiotherapy students' EBs and therapeutic health concepts with those of professionals in a cross-sectional study. That study design, however, did not allow for any conclusions about the temporal development of these concepts. This shortcoming has been addressed in the study presented here, which aimed to assess that temporal development. METHODS: In a longitudinal study, physiotherapists filled in a questionnaire that measured their personal EBs about physiotherapy and about medicine, as well as their biomedical and biopsychosocial therapeutic health concepts. The participants were first examined during their medical training (December 2011). The follow-up measure was about 3 years later when the participants had become professional physiotherapists (January 2015). The development of their EBs was examined using paired sample t-tests and Wilcoxon signed-rank test. RESULTS: The analysis was based on 41 participants who filled in the questionnaire at both time points and were working as physiotherapists at the time of the second measurement. There was a development of physiotherapy-related and a development of medicine-related EBs: Physiotherapy-related as well as medicine-related EBs were more sophisticated when physiotherapists had already entered the working world than during their physiotherapy training. Due to psychometric problems of the scales, the development of their therapeutic health concepts could not be analyzed. CONCLUSIONS: EBs are an important factor for (lifelong) learning. Physiotherapy-related and medicine-related EBs developed similarly in both domains. This is an indication that the temporal development of EBs is an expression of professionalization of healthcare personnel in their occupational field. The findings demonstrate that the development of EBs is not completed at the end of vocational training; it appears to be a development that continues even after the transition to professional life.

Effects of Contributor Experience on the Quality of Health-Related Wikipedia Articles.

BACKGROUND: Consulting the Internet for health-related information is a common and widespread phenomenon, and Wikipedia is arguably one of the most important resources for health-related information. Therefore, it is relevant to identify factors that have an impact on the quality of health-related Wikipedia articles. OBJECTIVE: In our study we have hypothesized a positive effect of contributor experience on the quality of health-related Wikipedia articles. METHODS: We mined the edit history of all (as of February 2017) 18,805 articles that were listed in the categories on the portal health & fitness in the English language version of Wikipedia. We identified tags within the articles' edit histories, which indicated potential issues with regard to the respective article's quality or neutrality. Of all of the sampled articles, 99 (99/18,805, 0.53%) articles had at some point received at least one such tag. In our analysis we only considered those articles with a minimum of 10 edits (10,265 articles in total; 96 tagged articles, 0.94%). Additionally, to test our hypothesis, we constructed contributor profiles, where a profile consisted of all the articles edited by a contributor and the corresponding number of edits contributed. We did not differentiate between rollbacks and edits with novel content. RESULTS: Nonparametric Mann-Whitney U-tests indicated a higher number of previously edited articles for editors of the nontagged articles (mean rank tagged 2348.23, mean rank nontagged 5159.29; U=9.25, P<.001). However, we did not find a significant difference for the contributors' total number of edits (mean rank tagged 4872.85, mean rank nontagged 5135.48; U=0.87, P=.39). Using logistic regression analysis with the respective article's number of edits and number of editors as covariates, only the number of edited articles yielded a significant effect on the article's status as tagged versus nontagged (dummy-coded; Nagelkerke R2 for the full model=.17; B [SE B]=-0.001 [0.00]; Wald c2 [1]=19.70; P<.001), whereas we again found no significant effect for the mere number of edits (Nagelkerke R2 for the full model=.15; B [SE B]=0.000 [0.01]; Wald c2 [1]=0.01; P=.94). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate an effect of contributor experience on the quality of health-related Wikipedia articles. However, only the number of previously edited articles was a predictor of the articles' quality but not the mere volume of edits. More research is needed to disentangle the different aspects of contributor experience. We have discussed the implications of our findings with respect to ensuring the quality of health-related information in collaborative knowledge-building platforms.

The impact of physicians' communication styles on evaluation of physicians and information processing: A randomized study with simulated video consultations on contraception with an intrauterine device.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed at examining the impact of different types of physicians' communication styles on people's subsequent evaluation of physician attributes as well as on their information processing, attitude and decision making. METHOD: In a between-group experiment, 80 participants watched one of three videos in which a gynaecologist displayed a particular communication style in a consultation situation on contraception with an intrauterine device. We compared doctor-centred communication (DCC) vs patient-centred communication (PCC) vs patient-centred communication with need-orientation (PCC-N). RESULTS: In the PCC condition, participants perceived the physician to be more empathetic and more competent than in the DCC condition. In the DCC condition, participants showed less attitude change compared to the other conditions. In the PCC-N condition, the physician was perceived as more empathetic and more socially competent than in the other conditions. However, participants acquired less knowledge in the PCC-N condition. CONCLUSION: We conclude that appropriate application of particular communication styles depends on specific consultation goals. Our results suggest that patients' needs should be addressed if the main goal is to build a good relationship, whereas a traditional PCC style appears to be more effective in communicating factual information.

The Impact of Personality Factors and Preceding User Comments on the Processing of Research Findings on Deep Brain Stimulation: A Randomized Controlled Experiment in a Simulated Online Forum.

BACKGROUND: Laypeople frequently discuss medical research findings on Web-based platforms, but little is known about whether they grasp the tentativeness that is inherent in these findings. Potential influential factors involved in understanding medical tentativeness have hardly been assessed to date. OBJECTIVE: The research presented here aimed to examine the effects of personality factors and of other users' previous contributions in a Web-based forum on laypeople's understanding of the tentativeness of medical research findings, using the example of research on deep brain stimulation. METHODS: We presented 70 university students with an online news article that reported findings on applying deep brain stimulation as a novel therapeutic method for depression, which participants were unfamiliar with. In a randomized controlled experiment, we manipulated the forum such that the article was either accompanied by user comments that addressed the issue of tentativeness, by comments that did not address this issue, or the article was accompanied by no comments at all. Participants were instructed to write their own individual user comments. Their scientific literacy, epistemological beliefs, and academic self-efficacy were measured. The outcomes measured were perceived tentativeness and tentativeness addressed in the participants' own comments. RESULTS: More sophisticated epistemological beliefs enhanced the perception of tentativeness (standardized ß=.26, P=.034). Greater scientific literacy (stand. ß=.25, P=.025) and greater academic self-efficacy (stand. ß=.31, P=.007) were both predictors of a more extensive discussion of tentativeness in participants' comments. When forum posts presented in the experiment addressed the issue of tentativeness, participants' subsequent behavior tended to be consistent with what they had read in the forum, F2,63=3.66; P=.049, ηp(2)=.092. CONCLUSIONS: Students' understanding of the tentativeness of research findings on deep brain stimulation in an online forum is influenced by a number of character traits and by the previous comments that were contributed to the forum by other users. There is potential for targeted modification of traits such as scientific literacy, epistemological beliefs, and academic self-efficacy to foster critical thinking in laypeople who take part in online discussions of medical research findings.

The impact of epistemological beliefs and cognitive ability on recall and critical evaluation of scientific information.

Scientific research findings are frequently picked up by the mainstream media, but it is largely unclear which factors have an impact on laypeople's processing of the presented scientific information. In this study, we investigated the influence of cognitive and metacognitive inter-individual differences on recall and on critical evaluation of new scientific information that was presented in a journalistic article. Sixty-three participants (80 % female; mean age 24.1 ± 3.3 years) read a newspaper article reporting research findings on a recently developed and yet unproven treatment for depression. We found that more sophisticated, domain-specific epistemological beliefs and a higher cognitive ability were independently associated with better recall of content from the article. Additionally, participants with more sophisticated epistemological beliefs displayed a more critical evaluation of the article. Cognitive ability was unrelated to critical evaluation and to epistemological beliefs. There were also no interaction effects of cognitive ability and epistemological beliefs on recall or on critical evaluation. Based on our preliminary findings and previous evidence of epistemological beliefs as a modifiable feature, we discuss this inter-individual characteristic as a potential target for the promotion of better understanding of scientific topics by the general public.

Impact of Scientific Versus Emotional Wording of Patient Questions on Doctor-Patient Communication in an Internet Forum: A Randomized Controlled Experiment with Medical Students.

BACKGROUND: Medical expert forums on the Internet play an increasing role in patient counseling. Therefore, it is important to understand how doctor-patient communication is influenced in such forums both by features of the patients or advice seekers, as expressed in their forum queries, and by characteristics of the medical experts involved. OBJECTIVE: In this experimental study, we aimed to examine in what way (1) the particular wording of patient queries and (2) medical experts' therapeutic health concepts (for example, beliefs around adhering to a distinctly scientific understanding of diagnosis and treatment and a clear focus on evidence-based medicine) impact communication behavior of the medical experts in an Internet forum. METHODS: Advanced medical students (in their ninth semester of medical training) were recruited as participants. Participation in the online forum was part of a communication training embedded in a gynecology course. We first measured their biomedical therapeutic health concept (hereinafter called "biomedical concept"). Then they participated in an online forum where they answered fictitious patient queries about mammography screening that either included scientific or emotional wording in a between-group design. We analyzed participants' replies with regard to the following dimensions: their use of scientific or emotional wording, the amount of communicated information, and their attempt to build a positive doctor-patient relationship. RESULTS: This study was carried out with 117 medical students (73 women, 41 men, 3 did not indicate their sex). We found evidence that both the wording of patient queries and the participants' biomedical concept influenced participants' response behavior. They answered emotional patient queries in a more emotional way (mean 0.92, SD 1.02) than scientific patient queries (mean 0.26, SD 0.55; t74=3.48, P<.001, d=0.81). We also found a significant interaction effect between participants' use of scientific or emotional wording and type of patient query (F2,74=10.29, P<.01, partial η(2)=0.12) indicating that participants used scientific wording independently of the type of patient query, whereas they used emotional wording particularly when replying to emotional patient queries. In addition, the more pronounced the medical experts' biomedical concept was, the more scientifically (adjusted ß=.20; F1,75=2.95, P=.045) and the less emotionally (adjusted ß=-.22; F1,74=3.66, P=.03) they replied to patient queries. Finally, we found that participants' biomedical concept predicted their engagement in relationship building (adjusted ß=-.26): The more pronounced their biomedical concept was, the less they attempted to build a positive doctor-patient relationship (F1,74=5.39, P=.02). CONCLUSIONS: Communication training for medical experts could aim to address this issue of recognizing patients' communication styles and needs in certain situations in order to teach medical experts how to take those aspects adequately into account. In addition, communication training should also make medical experts aware of their individual therapeutic health concepts and the consequential implications in communication situations.

The role of tentative decisions and health concepts in assessing information about mammography screening.

Breast cancer awareness campaigns and screening programs are important public health issues. In order to deepen women's knowledge about mammography screening, a balanced presentation of arguments is considered to be relevant. Yet, little is known about how women process this information and assess pro and contra arguments, which, in turn, can be embedded in different health paradigms. The aim of this experimental study was to determine the impact of both women's pre-formed, tentative decisions about whether to participate in mammography screening and of their individual health concepts on their assessment of different arguments about mammography screening. The results showed that women who would tend at the outset to participate in mammography screening rated information about advantages as more relevant than information about disadvantages--in contrast to women who did not intend to participate. In addition, the greater the fit was between women's individual health concepts and the health concept presented in the arguments, the more they considered the information presented to be relevant. We conclude that presenting balanced information about mammography screening does not guarantee balanced processing of that information. Health professionals need to be aware of people's prior beliefs and of the health paradigm in which information is embedded.

Personal experiences and emotionality in health-related knowledge exchange in Internet forums: a randomized controlled field experiment comparing responses to facts vs personal experiences.

BACKGROUND: On the Internet, people share personal experiences as well as facts and objective information. This also holds true for the exchange of health-related information in a variety of Internet forums. In online discussions about health topics, both fact-oriented and strongly personal contributions occur on a regular basis. OBJECTIVE: In this field experiment, we examined in what way the particular type of contribution (ie, factual information vs personal experiences) has an impact on the subsequent communication in health-related Internet forums. METHODS: For this purpose, we posted parallelized queries to 28 comparable Internet forums; queries were identical with regard to the information contained but included either fact-oriented descriptions or personal experiences related to measles vaccination. In the factual information condition, we posted queries to the forums that contained the neutral summary of a scientific article. In the personal experiences condition, we posted queries to the forums that contained the same information as in the first condition, but were framed as personal experiences RESULTS: We found no evidence that personal experiences evoked more responses (mean 3.79, SD 3.91) from other members of the Internet forums than fact-oriented contributions (mean 2.14, SD 2.93, t26=0.126, P=.219). But personal experiences elicited emotional replies (mean 3.17, SD 1.29) from other users to a greater extent than fact-oriented contributions (mean 2.13, SD 1.29, t81=3.659, P<.001). CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that personal experiences elicited more emotional replies due to the process of emotional anchoring of people's own style of communication. We recommend future studies should aim at testing the hypotheses with more general and with less emotionally charged topics, constructing different fact-oriented posts, and examining additional potential factors of influence such as personality factors or particular communication situations.

Web-based apps for reflection: a longitudinal study with hospital staff.

BACKGROUND: Reflection is an important cognitive process in workplace learning; however, it occurs only rarely on its own and therefore needs additional support. OBJECTIVE: In this study, we investigated the effect of software applications (apps) that aim to support reflection on hospital staff's actual reflection behavior. In doing so, we also analyzed the relationship between reflection and the job satisfaction of health care professionals. METHODS: Reflective learning was introduced in the ward of a neurological hospital by providing apps that aimed to foster particular aspects of individual and collaborative reflection. Data were collected repeatedly: once before the introduction of the apps and again 2 years after the initial measure. We used a questionnaire with subjective ratings of reflection and job satisfaction. Response rates were 34.4% (167/485) for the first and 40.6% (210/517) for the second measure. RESULTS: Collaborative reflection was increased (P=.047) after the provision of the apps (2010: mean 2.84, SD 0.72; 2012: mean 3.06, SD 0.63) in contrast to a control group of other wards of the same hospital (2010: mean 2.68, SD 0.67; 2012: mean 2.63, SD 0.68). In addition, we revealed a positive correlation between collaborative reflection and job satisfaction (r=.61, P<.001). CONCLUSIONS: The findings provide evidence for an effect of the apps on hospital employees' reflection behavior. Apps that foster reflective learning can increase health care professionals' reflection about work experiences and support them in discussing experiences in teams or with their supervisors. The relationship between collaborative reflection and job satisfaction suggests that opportunities for joint reflection on work experiences in a hospital have further impact over and above fostering reflective learning per se. We discuss the limitations of our study and provide suggestions for both future research and the development of Web-based apps.

Epistemological beliefs and therapeutic health concepts of physiotherapy students and professionals.

BACKGROUND: Health knowledge develops fast and includes a lot of ambiguous or tentative information. In their daily routine, both health care students and professionals continuously have to make judgments about the viability of health knowledge. People's epistemological beliefs (EBs) and their therapeutic health concepts are factors that influence how they deal with health knowledge. However, very little is known about the occurrence of these factors at different stages of people's career. The present study examines the EBs and therapeutic health concepts of physiotherapy students in their vocational training and the EBs and therapeutic health concepts of professionals. METHODS: In a cross-sectional study physiotherapy students and professional physiotherapists filled in a questionnaire that measured their personal EBs about physiotherapy and medicine, as well as their biomedical and biopsychosocial therapeutic health concepts. We compared the participants' EBs regarding both knowledge domains, and their therapeutic health concepts using paired samples t-tests. We also examined the differences between first-year students, advanced students, and professionals regarding their EBs and their therapeutic health concepts using ANOVAs. RESULTS: Eighty-three students and 84 professionals participated in this study, 114/167 (68%) participants were female. EBs as well as therapeutic health concepts differed depending upon the participants' training status. Professionals had more sophisticated EBs than students regarding both knowledge in physiotherapy (F(2, 164) = 6.74, P = 0.002, η(2)(p) = 0.08) and knowledge in medicine (F(2, 164) = 5.93, P = 0.003, η(2)(p) = 0.07). In addition, high values in a biopsychosocial therapeutic health concept already occurred in an early phase of training (F(2, 164) = 5.39, P = 0.005, η(2)(p) = 0.06), whereas increased values in a biomedical concept did not occur until people's professional life (F(2, 164) = 10.99, P < 0.001, η(2)(p) = 0.12). CONCLUSIONS: The specificities of personal EBs and therapeutic health concepts in different stages of health care training have so far been insufficiently considered in medical education research. The current study has aimed to shed light on the occurrence of these concepts in students as compared to professionals. We point out implications of our findings for educational practice and make suggestions for future research.

Understanding and Perception of Automated Text Generation among the Public: Two Surveys with Representative Samples in Germany.

Automated text generation (ATG) technology has evolved rapidly in the last several years, enabling the spread of content produced by artificial intelligence (AI). In addition, with the release of ChatGPT, virtually everyone can now create naturally sounding text on any topic. To optimize future use and understand how humans interact with these technologies, it is essential to capture people's attitudes and beliefs. However, research on ATG perception is lacking. Based on two representative surveys (March 2022: n1 = 1028; July 2023: n2 = 1013), we aimed to examine the German population's concepts of and attitudes toward AI authorship. The results revealed a preference for human authorship across a wide range of topics and a lack of knowledge concerning the function, data sources, and responsibilities of ATG. Using multiple regression analysis with k-fold cross-validation, we identified people's attitude toward using ATG, performance expectancy, general attitudes toward AI, and lay attitude toward ChatGPT and ATG as significant predictors of the intention to read AI-written texts in the future. Despite the release of ChatGPT, we observed stability across most variables and minor differences between the two survey points regarding concepts about ATG. We discuss the findings against the backdrop of the ever-increasing availability of automated content and the need for an intensive societal debate about its chances and limitations.

Good reasons for bad behavior: a randomized controlled experiment on the impact of narrative reading and writing on empathic concern, perspective-taking, and attitude.

Background: Empathic concern and perspective-taking may contribute to avoiding stigmatization of adverse health behavior. Narrative writing has been shown to be effective in promoting perspective-taking and empathy. But since narrative writing is time consuming, we tested in the present study narrative reading as an alternative, more parsimonious approach. Methods: In a randomized controlled experiment, we compared writing a narrative text about a fictitious person who displays disapproved of health behavior to reading such a text and to a control condition in which participants wrote about an unrelated topic. With a sample of n = 194 participants, we investigated the impact of writing and reading a narrative text on promoting empathic concern and perspective-taking as well as on attitude change. Results: We found that both writing and reading a narrative text about the fictitious character increased empathic concern, F(1, 191) = 32.85, p < 0.001, part. η2 = 0.15, and perspective-taking, F(1, 191) = 24.76, p < 0.001, part. η2 = 0.12, more strongly than writing about an unrelated topic. Writing and reading a narrative text also resulted in a more positive attitude toward this person, F(1, 191) = 17.63, p < 0.001, part. η2 = 0.08. Simply reading a narrative text was equally efficient as narrative writing with respect to empathic concern, p = 0.581, perspective-taking, p = 0.629, and attitude, p = 0.197. Conclusion: The finding that narrative reading is as effective as narrative writing suggests that the readers appear to be able to comprehend and engage with the story being told. When narrative reading is as effective as narrative writing, it can succeed with reduced effort in increasing empathic concern, perspective-taking, and attitude. We discuss the benefits of this approach for reducing stigmatization of adverse health behavior.

Improving motivation and treatment uptake behaviors of patients with eating disorders using patient narrative videos: study protocol of a pilot randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Patients with eating disorders (ED) typically report delays between the onset of symptoms and engagement with treatment services. Personal barriers including stigma, shame, and guilt, as well as the availability of social support may influence patients' decisions to engage with treatment services. Patient narratives are personalized stories discussing the illness and recovery of previously affected persons. Such narratives can reduce self-stigma and provide current patients with hope for their own recovery. METHOD: This pilot study will examine the effects of patient narrative videos on the treatment motivation and uptake of treatment services for patients with ED. Three narrative videos were developed from the perspectives of (a) a former patient with an ED, (b) an ED specialist, and (c) the same former patient discussing a somatic condition unrelated to ED. Patients will be randomized into three video viewing and one treatment-as-usual group. Effects on treatment motivation will be assessed using the University of Rhode Island Change Assessment Scale (URICA-S) immediately after viewing the videos, as well as one-week and three-month follow-ups. Treatment uptake will be assessed during follow-up using a questionnaire listing possible treatment interactions. A post-intervention questionnaire and semi-structured interviews will be used to assess the feasibility and acceptability of patient narrative videos for this population. DISCUSSION: There is an urgent need to encourage patients with ED to engage with specialized treatments as soon as possible. Patient narratives may be a pivotal approach to implementing cost effective and easy to disseminate early intervention programs to future patients with ED.

The impact of text topic and assumed human vs. AI authorship on competence and quality assessment.

Background: While Large Language Models (LLMs) are considered positively with respect to technological progress and abilities, people are rather opposed to machines making moral decisions. But the circumstances under which algorithm aversion or algorithm appreciation are more likely to occur with respect to LLMs have not yet been sufficiently investigated. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate how texts with moral or technological topics, allegedly written either by a human author or by ChatGPT, are perceived. Methods: In a randomized controlled experiment, n = 164 participants read six texts, three of which had a moral and three a technological topic (predictor text topic). The alleged author of each text was randomly either labeled "ChatGPT" or "human author" (predictor authorship). We captured three dependent variables: assessment of author competence, assessment of content quality, and participants' intention to submit the text in a hypothetical university course (sharing intention). We hypothesized interaction effects, that is, we expected ChatGPT to score lower than alleged human authors for moral topics and higher than alleged human authors for technological topics and vice versa. Results: We only found a small interaction effect for perceived author competence, p = 0.004, d = 0.40, but not for the other dependent variables. However, ChatGPT was consistently devalued compared to alleged human authors across all dependent variables: there were main effects of authorship for assessment of the author competence, p < 0.001, d = 0.95; for assessment of content quality, p < 0.001, d = 0.39; as well as for sharing intention, p < 0.001, d = 0.57. There was also a small main effect of text topic on the assessment of text quality, p = 0.002, d = 0.35. Conclusion: These results are more in line with previous findings on algorithm aversion than with algorithm appreciation. We discuss the implications of these findings for the acceptance of the use of LLMs for text composition.