ReviewSocial science & medicine (1982)2023
The TRIBE model: How socioemotional processes fuel end-of-life treatment in the United States.
Review in Social science & medicine (1982), 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Applying terror management theory to patients with life-threatening illness: a systematic review.BMC palliative care · 2023Pooled it
- Study protocol for a pilot randomized controlled trial of SONATA: A social network intervention for older adults with advanced cancer.Journal of geriatric oncology · 2026Article
- Older Patients and Conservative Kidney Management.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Time-limited trials for acute dialysis decision-making for critically ill older patients: rationale, communication strategies, and future research.Current opinion in nephrology and hypertension · 2026Review
- Systemic Strategies to Prevent Nonbeneficial Treatments Near the End of Life.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Obliged to fight? Patient moral processes in the face of poor prognosis cancer.Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association · 2025Article
- Knowledge of and Preferences for Medical Aid in Dying.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- "It is not the fault of the health care team - it is the way the system works": a mixed-methods quality improvement study of patients with advanced cancer and family members reveals challenges navigating a fragmented healthcare system and the administrative and financial burdens of care.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Emotional barriers and facilitators of deprescribing for older adults with cancer and polypharmacy: a qualitative study.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2023Article
- Impact of Interprofessional Teamwork on Aligning Intensive Care Unit Care with Patient Goals: A Qualitative Study of Transactive Memory Systems.Annals of the American Thoracic Society · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Prior interventions have repeatedly failed to decrease the prescription and receipt of treatments and procedures that confer more harm than benefit at the End-of-Life (EoL); new approaches to intervention are needed. Ideally, future interventions would be informed by a social-ecological conceptual model that explains EoL healthcare utilization patterns, but current models ignore two facts: (1) healthcare is an inherently social activity, involving clinical teams and patients' social networks, and (2) emotions influence social activity. To address these omissions, we scaffolded Terror Management Theory and Socioemotional Selectivity Theory to create the Transtheoretical Model of Irrational Biomedical Exuberance (TRIBE). Based on Terror Management Theory, TRIBE suggests that the prospect of patient death motivates healthcare teams to conform to a biomedical norm of care, even when clinicians believe that biomedical interventions will likely be unhelpful. Based on Socioemotional Selectivity Theory, TRIBE suggests that the prospect of dwindling time motivates families to prioritize emotional goals, and leads patients to consent to disease-directed treatments they know will likely be unhelpful, as moral emotions motivate deference to the perceived emotional needs of their loved ones. TRIBE is unique among models of healthcare utilization in its acknowledgement that moral emotions and processes (e.g., shame, compassion, regret-avoidance) influence healthcare delivery, patients' interactions with family members, and patients' outcomes. TRIBE is especially relevant to potentially harmful EoL care in the United States, and it also offers insights into the epidemics of overtreatment in healthcare settings worldwide. By outlining the role of socioemotional processes in the care of persons with serious conditions, TRIBE underscores the critical need for psychological innovation in interventions, health policy and research on healthcare utilization.
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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.