ArticleBMJ open2021
Are patients accurate forecasters of their emotional response to medical conditions? A scoping review on affective forecasting.
Article in BMJ open, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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.
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.
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- Affective Forecasting Accuracy in Everyday Life.Affective science · 2026Article
- Divergent directions of bias: affective forecasting in younger vs. older adults and the role of affective working memory.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- From inferring preferences to enabling choice: potentials of digital tools to improve substitute decision-making.Frontiers in digital health · 2026Article
- Frailty-Informed Decision Making During Acute Health Crises: A Competency-Based Framework for Person-Centered Care.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Harnessing the Power of Physician Word Choice in Thyroid Cancer Treatment Decision-Making.Endocrine practice : official journal of the American College of Endocrinology and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists · 2025Article
- Instruments for Value Elucidation in Older Adults in Clinical Practice-A Scoping Review.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2025Article
- Advance Requests for Medical Assistance in Dying in the International Context: Some Legal Issues for the Canadian Case.Healthcare policy = Politiques de sante · 2025Article
- Shifting focus from ideality to reality: a qualitative study on how quality of life is defined by premanifest and manifest Huntington's disease gene expansion carriers.Orphanet journal of rare diseases · 2024Article
- Factors influencing clinician decision-making about POLST use with nursing facility residents: A qualitative study.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveIn this paper, we challenge the premise that patients are capable of accurately predicting their emotional response or quality of life in anticipation of health changes. Our goal was to systematically review the published empirical evidence related to the reliability of affective forecasting in the context of medical conditions.
designScoping review.
settingWe conducted a search string using both simple search terms as well as MeSH terms and searched the electronic databases of PubMed, Embase, CINAHL and Cochrane up to April 2021.
participantsWe initially selected 5726 articles. Empirical studies reporting on predicted and/or observed emotions or quality of life concerning deterioration, improvement in health or chronic illnesses were included. Furthermore, empirical studies of healthy individuals predicting emotional response or quality of life compared with patients reflecting on emotions or quality of life concerning deterioration or improvement in health or chronic illnesses were also included. Studies on healthy participants, psychiatric patients and non-English articles were excluded.
results7 articles were included in this review. We found that patients generally tend to systematically exaggerate both anticipated happiness and sorrow/grief after health improvement and deterioration, respectively.
conclusionPatients are less adept in predicting emotional response or quality of life regarding to health changes than we are inclined to assume. We discuss several biases which could explain this phenomenon. Our findings are relevant in the context of treatment decisions, advanced care planning and advanced care directives.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.