Background/Objective

Assessments of health can be biased by response shift effects. One method for detecting such effects is the use of anchoring vignettes. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between participants’ self-assessed health state and their assessments of these vignettes.

Method

A total of 342 cardiovascular patients assessed their own state of health on a 0-100 visual analogue scale. The patients additionally assessed two vignettes featuring fictional persons suffering from specific complaints. A sample of the general population (N = 1,236) served as controls.

Results

The participants rated the health state of the vignette character featuring physical problems as being significantly better than the general population did (effect size: d = 0.53). The group difference in the assessment of the vignette featuring primarily mental health problems was lower (d = -0.17). Participants’ assessments of the vignettes were positively correlated with their assessments of their own health state (r = .26 and r = .10) and with several quality of life variables.

Conclusions

Anchoring vignettes are a useful tool for detecting response shift effects.

中文翻译：

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自评健康与心血管患者锚定小插曲评估之间的关联。

背景/目标

健康评估可能会因反应转移效应而产生偏差。检测这种影响的一种方法是使用锚定小插图。本研究的目的是分析参与者自我评估的健康状况与他们对这些小插曲的评估之间的关系。

方法

共有 342 名心血管患者以 0-100 的视觉模拟量表评估自己的健康状况。患者还评估了两个小插曲，其中描绘了患有特定疾病的虚构人物。一般人群的样本 ( N  = 1,236) 作为对照。

结果

参与者将具有身体问题的小插曲角色的健康状况评为明显好于一般人群（效果大小：d  = 0.53）。以心理健康问题为主要特征的小插曲评估的组间差异较低（d = -0.17）。参与者对小插曲的评估与他们对自身健康状况的评估（r  = .26 和r  = .10）以及几个生活质量变量呈正相关。

结论

锚定晕影是检测响应偏移效应的有用工具。