Evidence map›Paper›PMID 23281961›Full record

ArticleBMC family practice2013

Family physicians' diagnostic gut feelings are measurable: construct validation of a questionnaire.

Christiaan F Stolper, Margje W J Van de Wiel, Henrica C W De Vet, Alexander L B Rutten, Paul Van Royen, Marloes A Van Bokhoven, Trudy Van der Weijden, Geert Jan Dinant

Abstract readValidation Study
In one paragraph

Article in BMC family practice, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
23citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–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

23 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. The linguistic validation of the gut feelings questionnaire in Turkish.The European journal of general practice · 2023
    Article
  5. How patients in general practice voice and value their gut feelings about health: a qualitative interview study.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2023
    Article
  6. Article
  7. Observational
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  11. Observational
  12. Observational
  13. Observational
  14. Article
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  16. Article
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  18. Article
  19. Missed opportunities for diagnosis: lessons learned from diagnostic errors in primary care.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2015
    Article
  20. Observational
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

8 authors.

Christiaan F StolperCaphri School for Public Health and Primary Care, Department of Primary Medicine, Maastricht University, P,O, Box 616, Maastricht, 6200 MD, The Netherlands. cf.stolper@maastrichtuniversity.nl
Margje W J Van de Wiel
Henrica C W De Vet
Alexander L B Rutten
Paul Van Royen
Marloes A Van Bokhoven
Trudy Van der Weijden
Geert Jan Dinant

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundFamily physicians perceive that gut feelings, i.e. a 'sense of reassurance' or a 'sense of alarm', play a substantial role in diagnostic reasoning. A measuring instrument is desirable for further research. Our objective is to validate a questionnaire measuring the presence of gut feelings in diagnostic reasoning.

methodsWe constructed 16 case vignettes from real practice situations and used the accompanying 'sense of reassurance' or the 'sense of alarm' as reference labels. Based on the results of an initial study (26 family physicians), we divided the case vignettes into a group involving a clear role for the sense of reassurance or the sense of alarm and a group involving an ambiguous role. 49 experienced family physicians evaluated each 10 vignettes using the questionnaire. Construct validity was assessed by testing hypotheses and an internal consistency procedure was performed.

resultsAs hypothesized we found that the correlations between the reference labels and corresponding items were high for the clear-case vignettes (0.59 - 0.72) and low for the ambiguous-case vignettes (0.08 - 0.23). The agreement between the classification in clear sense of reassurance, clear sense of alarm and ambiguous case vignettes as derived from the initial study and the study population's judgments was substantial (Kappa = 0.62). Factor analysis showed one factor with opposites for sense of reassurance and sense of alarm items. The questionnaire's internal consistency was high (0.91). We provided a linguistic validated English-language text of the questionnaire.

conclusionsThe questionnaire appears to be valid. It enables quantitative research into the role of gut feelings and their diagnostic value in family physicians' diagnostic reasoning.

Indexed as

Decision MakingDiagnosisIntuitionSurveys and QuestionnairesFactor Analysis, StatisticalFamily PracticeHumansPhysicians, FamilyPrincipal Component AnalysisQualitative ResearchReproducibility of Results

Identifiers

PMID23281961
PMCPMC3565882

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.