Patient Doctor Lies

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Privacy Statements; Risk Statements; Patient Lying; Benefit Statements; Patient Lie Detection
• Interventions: Behavioral: Risk Statement; Behavioral: Risk + Privacy; Behavioral: Benefit + Privacy; Behavioral: Benefit statement; Behavioral: Privacy Statement

• Registration Number: NCT04803448
• Lead Sponsor: University of Utah

Brief Summary

Accurate patient information disclosure is critical to provide optimal treatment. Methods that can detect and then increase the truthfulness of information are relatively unknown.

To investigate the impact of communication about privacy, benefits, and risk on patient truthfulness, the investigators test two new methods to detect patient truthfulness and demonstrate the effects of privacy notices (e.g. HIPPA statements).

Participants include a national online sample randomly assigned to one of six treatment statements that might be typically given before health information was requested. The assigned treatments include one or mix of the following: privacy notice, statement of the benefits of accurate disclosure, and statement of the risks of inaccurate disclosure and control of no statement before being asked typical health questions.

The investigators propose that based on elaboration likelihood model, statements reminding participants of their privacy will increase lying.

The investigators hypothesis the use of a new biometric mouse movement lie detection method and answer adjustment can measure patient lies.

The investigators hypothesis that reminders of the risk of not telling the truth will reduce lying due to risk aversion.

Lastly the investigators hypothesis that statements of benefits of answering truthfully will increase truthfulness.

Detailed Description

After agreeing to an IRB-approved modified consent form designed to hide the true purpose of the study to detect lying, all participants will complete the CESD-10 depression scale. This validated measure of depression was used in order to simulate the false pretense of the experiment.

This online survey randomly assigns participating adults to one of six intervention statements after which they are asked eight typical questions about their health. The statements include:

1. control (no stimuli)

2. benefit (statement about the benefits of accurate information disclosure)

3. risk (statement about the risks of inaccurate information disclosure)

4. privacy (a traditional medical privacy notification and seal image)

5. privacy + benefit

6. privacy + risk After this intervention participants are asked to disclose eight items of personal health information, including their weight, height, alcohol intake, illegal drug use, prescription drug abuse, smoking, exercise, and sexual activity. We do not assess these actual numbers. They will be the basis for assessing truthfulness by answer adjustment or biometric mouse-movement.

An example of an intervention benefit statement followed by a health question about weight reads: "What is your weight? Accurately answering this will increase the likelihood of a correct diagnosis." A risk statement reads: "What is your weight? Inaccurately answering this will increase the likelihood of an incorrect diagnosis." A privacy statement read: "What is your weight? We will not share or sell this personal health information with anyone. We will comply with all HIPPA regulations regarding the protection of your data."

The dependent variable - patient truthfulness, will be measured in two ways.

1. First measure of truthfulness will be a biometric mouse-movement measure. As participants answer the health care questions coded programming will measure the mouse-movement arc distance and time to response for biometric lie detection. This measurement is completed when participants move to their response to each health question.

2. Second measure of truthfulness will be the answer adjustment method. Participants will be given a summary of their answers from their health questions in a read-only format and asked to indicate how OVER of UNDERSTATED each initial response was (e.g., "You indicated that your current weight is 185 lbs. How overstated or understated is that value?") on a scale from -5 (understated) to 5 (overstated). The absolute value of their scaled response represents the extent to which participants' initial response deviated from the truth. This the unit of measure to be used in analysis.

3. The answer adjustment values and the mouse tracking results provide a more holistic measure of truthfulness than one alone.

No personal identifiers are collected. Age and gender are collected.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2020-02-12
• Primary Completion: 2020-04-19
• Study Completion: 2020-04-19
• Status Verified: 2021-03
• Study First Submitted: 2021-03-04
• Study First Submitted QC: 2021-03-16
• Last Update Submitted: 2021-03-16
• Study First Posted: 2021-03-17
• Last Update Posted: 2021-03-17

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 619

Inclusion Criteria

• Adults
• Individuals 18-80 years
• English speaking
• Live in the United States

Exclusion Criteria

• Participants that do not complete the survey

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Risk Statement	Risk Statement	A statement of risk will be given (see intervention) after the health question.
Risk + privacy statement	Risk + Privacy	A statement of risk and privacy will be given (see intervention) after the health question.
Benefit + Privacy statement	Benefit + Privacy	A statement of benefit and privacy will be given (see intervention) after the health question.
Benefit Statement	Benefit statement	A statement of benefit will be given (see intervention) after the health question.
Privacy Statement	Privacy Statement	A statement of privacy will be given (see intervention) after the health question.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Patient truthfulness Height - answer adjustment from -5 to 5 for each health question	The time frame of data collection will be from when the survey is opened by the participant until it is completed and submitted. This will take 10 - 20 minutes.	Participant will be shown a summary of their answer from their health question (What is your height in inches) and then respond to how much they under represented the information (-5) to being accurate (0) to overstated the information (+5). Participant response will be on a sliding scale -5 to +5
Patient truthfulness - biometric mouse-movement time	The time frame of data collection will be from when the survey is opened by the participant until it is completed and submitted. This will take 10 - 20 minutes.	The measure of the time (ms) the mouse travels to the response.
Patient truthfulness - biometric mouse-movement distance	The time frame of data collection will be from when the survey is opened by the participant until it is completed and submitted. This will take 10 - 20 minutes.	The measure of the distance (mm) the mouse travels to the response.
Patient truthfulness Weight - answer adjustment from -5 to 5 for each health question	The time frame of data collection will be from when the survey is opened by the participant until it is completed and submitted. This will take 10 - 20 minutes.	Participants will be given a summary of their answers from their health questions in a read-only format and asked to indicate how over- or understated each initial response was (e.g., "You indicated that your current weight is 185 lbs. How overstated or understated is that value?") on a scale from -5 (understated) to 5 (overstated). The absolute value of their response represents the extent to which participants' initial response deviated from the truth. Participant's actual response to the health questions are NOT an outcome measure but rather how much they adjust their answer on a scale of (-5 to +5).
Patient truthfulness Drug Activity - answer adjustment from -5 to 5 for each health question	The time frame of data collection will be from when the survey is opened by the participant until it is completed and submitted. This will take 10 - 20 minutes.	Participant will be shown a summary of their answer from their health question (How often a month do you use other substance such as marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy, or other drugs (1 = never; 6 = all the time)) and then respond to how much they under represented the information (-5) to being accurate (0) to overstated the information (+5). Participant response will be on a sliding scale -5 to +5
Patient truthfulness Drink Alcohol - answer adjustment from -5 to 5 for each health question	The time frame of data collection will be from when the survey is opened by the participant until it is completed and submitted. This will take 10 - 20 minutes.	Participant will be shown a summary of their answer from their health question (How many days out of the last 2 weeks did you drink alcohol? (1 = 0 time; 6 = 13-14 times)) and then respond to how much they under represented the information (-5) to being accurate (0) to overstated the information (+5). Participant response will be on a sliding scale -5 to +5
Patient truthfulness Exercise Activity- answer adjustment from -5 to 5 for each health question	The time frame of data collection will be from when the survey is opened by the participant until it is completed and submitted. This will take 10 - 20 minutes.	Participant will be shown a summary of their answer from their health question (How many days in the last 2 weeks did you engage in more than 30 min exercise? (1 = 13-14 times; 6 = 0 times)) and then respond to how much they under represented the information (-5) to being accurate (0) to overstated the information (+5). Participant response will be on a sliding scale -5 to +5
Patient truthfulness Prescription Use - answer adjustment from -5 to 5 for each health question	The time frame of data collection will be from when the survey is opened by the participant until it is completed and submitted. This will take 10 - 20 minutes.	Participant will be shown a summary of their answer from their health question (How often a month do you use Rx or non-Rx medications to excessive amounts? (1 = never; 6 = all the time)) and then respond to how much they under represented the information (-5) to being accurate (0) to overstated the information (+5). Participant response will be on a sliding scale -5 to +5
Patient truthfulness Cigarette Smoking- answer adjustment from -5 to 5 for each health question	The time frame of data collection will be from when the survey is opened by the participant until it is completed and submitted. This will take 10 - 20 minutes.	Participant will be shown a summary of their answer from their health question (When was the last time you smoked a cigarette? (1 = 6+ weeks ago to 6 = today)) and then respond to how much they under represented the information (-5) to being accurate (0) to overstated the information (+5). Participant response will be on a sliding scale -5 to +5
Patient truthfulness Sexual Activity - answer adjustment from -5 to 5 for each health question	The time frame of data collection will be from when the survey is opened by the participant until it is completed and submitted. This will take 10 - 20 minutes.	Participant will be shown a summary of their answer from their health question (How many times did you engage in sexual activity in the last month with another individual? (1 = 0; 6 = 20+ times)) and then respond to how much they under represented the information (-5) to being accurate (0) to overstated the information (+5). Participant response will be on a sliding scale -5 to +5

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Gender	The time frame of data collection will be from when the survey is opened by the participant until it is completed and submitted. This will take 10 - 20 minutes.	Participants will record their gender they identify with - Male or Female

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Brigham Young University; 🇺🇸 Provo, Utah, United States