Background

The understanding and processing of numerical prognostic information can be challenging for patients who suffer from disease and the stress of a diagnosis.

Objective

This paper investigates how patients diagnosed with Leukemia respond to different graph representations of prognosis information.

Methods

We conducted a user-centered design process, for which three experimental prototypes (vertical, horizontal, and pie charts) with and without animation were developed. Twelve patients diagnosed with Leukemia were recruited to evaluate the prototypes using a think-aloud interview protocol.

Results

The results showed a preference for vertical bar charts over horizontal and pie charts. In addition, we found that animating the charts to “fill-up” generally conveyed a subtle sense of positivity even when diagnosis information was negative. The value of explicitly indicating numeric values and scale varied but the results suggest that what matters to participants is having control over when such details would be seen. The results also point out that making sense of prognostic information involves balancing the tension between information utility and patient judgments about authenticity and credibility of prognosis information.

Conclusion

Our findings are important for the design and implementation of representations of prognostic information. They suggest that an appropriate visual format can reduce potential negative effects in conveying prognosis information, as well as helping patients stay positive and motivated for cure in the delivery of prognosis information.

中文翻译：

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改善面临复杂医学治疗的患者的预后沟通：以用户为中心的设计方法。

背景

对于患有疾病和诊断压力的患者，数字预后信息的理解和处理可能具有挑战性。

目的

本文研究了被诊断患有白血病的患者对预后信息的不同图形表示的反应。

方法

我们进行了以用户为中心的设计过程，为此，开发了三个带有或不带有动画的实验原型（垂直，水平和饼图）。招募了十二名诊断为白血病的患者，使用“思考方式”访谈协议评估了原型。

结果

结果显示，垂直条形图优先于水平图和饼图。此外，我们发现，即使诊断信息为阴性，对图表进行“填充”动画处理通常也会传达出一种微妙的积极感。明确表示数值和小数位数的值有所不同，但结果表明，对参与者重要的是控制何时可以看到这些细节。结果还指出，了解预后信息涉及平衡信息效用与患者对预后信息的真实性和可信度的判断之间的张力。

结论

我们的发现对于预后信息表示的设计和实施非常重要。他们认为，适当的视觉格式可以减少传达预后信息的潜在负面影响，并帮助患者在传递预后信息时保持积极乐观的态度。