Evidence map›Paper›PMID 22958295›Full record

Trial reportBMC medical informatics and decision making2012

Understanding and using comparative healthcare information; the effect of the amount of information and consumer characteristics and skills.

Nicolien C Zwijnenberg, Michelle Hendriks, Olga C Damman, Evelien Bloemendal, Sonja Wendel, Judith D de Jong, Jany Rademakers

Abstract readComparative StudyRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in BMC medical informatics and decision making, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
12citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

12 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
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  3. Article
  4. Testing the effects on information use by older versus younger women of modality and narration style in a hospital report card.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2022
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  5. Observational
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  12. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Nicolien C ZwijnenbergNIVEL, Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research, PO Box 1568, Utrecht 3500 BN, the Netherlands. n.zwijnenberg@nivel.nl
Michelle Hendriks
Olga C Damman
Evelien Bloemendal
Sonja Wendel
Judith D de Jong
Jany Rademakers

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundConsumers are increasingly exposed to comparative healthcare information (information about the quality of different healthcare providers). Partly because of its complexity, the use of this information has been limited. The objective of this study was to examine how the amount of presented information influences the comprehension and use of comparative healthcare information when important consumer characteristics and skills are taken into account.

methodsIn this randomized controlled experiment, comparative information on total hip or knee surgery was used as a test case. An online survey was distributed among 800 members of the NIVEL Insurants Panel and 76 hip- or knee surgery patients. Participants were assigned to one of four subgroups, who were shown 3, 7, 11 or 15 quality aspects of three hospitals. We conducted Kruskall-Wallis tests, Chi-square tests and hierarchical multiple linear regression analyses to examine relationships between the amount of information and consumer characteristics and skills (literacy, numeracy, active choice behaviour) on one hand, and outcome measures related to effectively using information (comprehension, perceived usefulness of information, hospital choice, ease of making a choice) on the other hand.

results414 people (47%) participated. Regression analysis showed that the amount of information slightly influenced the comprehension and the perceived usefulness of comparative healthcare information. It did not affect consumers' hospital choice and ease of making this choice. Consumer characteristics (especially age) and skills (especially literacy) were the most important factors affecting the comprehension of information and the ease of making a hospital choice. For the perceived usefulness of comparative information, active choice behaviour was the most influencing factor.

conclusionThe effects of the amount of information were not unambiguous. It remains unclear what the ideal amount of quality information to be presented would be. Reducing the amount of information will probably not automatically result in more effective use of comparative healthcare information by consumers. More important, consumer characteristics and skills appeared to be more influential factors contributing to information comprehension and use. Consequently, we would suggest that more emphasis on improving consumers' skills is needed to enhance the use of comparative healthcare information.

Indexed as

Choice BehaviorConsumer Health InformationHealth LiteracyAdolescentAdultAgedArthroplasty, Replacement, HipArthroplasty, Replacement, KneeComparative Effectiveness ResearchFemaleHumansInformation Seeking BehaviorMaleMiddle AgedNetherlandsSocioeconomic Factors

Identifiers

PMID22958295
PMCPMC3483238

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.