When an individual visits their doctor, they aren't supposed to keep secrets. Unless patients are forthcoming about their symptoms, behaviors, and health-related beliefs, it's hard for healthcare professionals to effectively diagnose and treat illnesses-; or to advise and educate patients about how to take better care of themselves in the future. There's only one problem: new research from Stevens Institute of Technology shows that many people believe they may be judged if they share mistaken beliefs with their care team-; and that doctors really do take strongly negative views of patients who disclose incorrect or unreasonable beliefs.
People worry about their doctors looking down on them-;and it turns out that's an entirely rational concern. Our study suggests that doctors really do judge patients harshly if they share information or beliefs that they disagree with." Dr.
Samantha Kleinberg, lead researcher on the project To understand how people think about sharing information with healthcare professionals, Dr. Kleinberg and her collaborators surveyed over 350 patients and over 200 physicians, asking how they would view people who held a range of different medical beliefs. Beliefs ranged from true information to incorrect statements of many types: some were reasonable (like believing that eating sugar causes diabetes); some were unreasonable (like believing that carrot juice cures diabetes); and some were conspiracy theories (like believing that pharmaceutical companies del.