Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40891384›Full record

Trial reportBritish journal of health psychology2025

The effects of communicating illness diagnostic and treatment information and C-reactive protein test results on people's antibiotic expectations.

Andriana Theodoropoulou, Matteo Lisi, Jonathan Rolision, Miroslav Sirota

Erratum issuedAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in British journal of health psychology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing 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

6 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Comparing the Antimicrobial Resistance Crisis to the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Randomized Public Health Messaging Experiment.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2026
    Trial
  2. Trial
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. [Antibiotic use: psychological factors influencing perceptions and behavior of physicians and patients].Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz · 2026
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Andriana TheodoropoulouDepartment of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, UK.ORCID 0000-0003-3100-543X
Matteo LisiDepartment of Psychology, Royal Holloway, London, UK.
Jonathan RolisionDepartment of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, UK.
Miroslav SirotaDepartment of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, UK.

Funding

Economic and Social Research Council ES/P00072X/12296112
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesPatients' expectations for antibiotics are among the strongest predictors of clinicians' decisions to overprescribe antibiotics. In this registered report, we used a signal detection theory framework to investigate the experimental effects of the communication interventions that family physicians can use to reduce patients' diagnostic uncertainty, and consequently, their antibiotic expectations.

methodsUK participants (N = 769) read hypothetical consultations for respiratory tract infections and were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: standard information (control), recommended information about the nature of the illness and antibiotic efficacy (recommended communication) or recommended information accompanied by point-of-care test results (recommended communication and CRP). Using a multilevel Bayesian probit regression, we estimated both decision bias (criterion) and sensitivity (d-prime).

resultsAligned with our bias hypotheses, participants displayed a more liberal antibiotic bias in the control condition compared to both the recommended communication (Δc = -1.34, 95% CI [-1.57, -1.11]) and the recommended communication and CRP (Δc = -1.73, 95% CI [-1.99, -1.48]) conditions. They also showed greater liberal bias in the recommended communication condition compared to the recommended communication and CRP condition (Δc = -0.39, 95% CI [-0.65, 0.13]). Aligned with our sensitivity hypotheses, participants displayed significantly higher sensitivity in both the recommended communication (Δd' = 2.34, 95% CI [1.92, 2.79]) and the recommended communication and CRP (Δd' = 2.49, 95% CI [2.08, 2.95]) conditions compared to control.

conclusionsSimple, evidence-based communication strategies-particularly when combined with diagnostic test results-can reduce antibiotic expectations, offering practical tools for clinicians to support appropriate prescribing.

Indexed as

Anti-Bacterial AgentsCommunicationC-Reactive ProteinPhysician-Patient RelationsRespiratory Tract InfectionsAdultAgedFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedUnited KingdomYoung AdultAnti-Bacterial AgentsC-Reactive Proteinantibiotic expectationscommunication strategiesdiagnostic uncertaintypoint‐of‐care testsrespiratory tract infectionssignal detection theory

Identifiers

PMID40891384
PMCPMC12403044

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.