New trends in science communication fostering evidence-informed policymaking

This article aims to assess novel trends in science communication relating to how policymakers in the field of innovation and digitalisation policy consume and use scientific findings. We investigate the mutual influence that science communication and policy have on each other and answer the question how emerging science communication trends in the science-policy nexus might influence the use of scientific findings in the policymaking process. By using Google and the largest scholarly repositories, Google Scholar, ResearchGate, and Academia.edu, from 1 st March to 31 st May 2020, we reviewed policy documents and academic literature containing relevant information on the evolution of characteristics of global, European, and national science communication activities and the interrelated policy responses to identify the most relevant current trends in the evidence-to-policy process alongside three key challenges; trust, translation, and timing. The three identified main trends are (1) a stronger engagement between science and policy, (2) more open, reliable, and accountable science communication practices with policymakers, and (3) the increasing digitalisation and visualisation of science communication. We deepened our investigation by conducting online semi-structured interviews with relevant policy stakeholders at the international and national level between 1 st May and 31 st July 2020. With the support of the European Commission and building on the existing network of partners, we identified decision-makers and advisors with relevant experience in fields related to innovation and digitalisation policy working in four countries that represent different levels of generalized social trust: Austria, Italy, Hungary, and the Netherlands, and at the international/European Union level. After an online consultation process with a global set of policymakers, these theoretical findings were translated to policy recommendations showcasing possible solutions in science communication that may be initiated, strengthened, or continued by policy stakeholders in order to reach a more effective and efficient uptake of scientific findings in evidence-informed policymaking.

Social Media Fact-Checking: The Effects of News Literacy and News Trust on the Intent to Verify Health-Related Information

The recent health crisis and the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence have caused misinformation on social media to flourish by becoming more sophisticated and challenging to detect. This calls upon fact-checking and questions users' competencies and attitudes when assessing social media news. Our study provides a model of how fact-checking intent is explained by news literacy and news trust to examine how users behave in the misinformation-prone social media environment. Structural equation modeling was used to examine survey data gathered from social media users. The findings revealed that users' intent to fact-check information in social media news is explained by (1) news literacy, such as the awareness of various techniques used by creators to depict situations about COVID-19; (2) news trust, in terms of the conviction that the news contains all the essential facts; and (3) intent, such as an aim to check information in multiple pieces of news. The presented findings may aid policymakers and practitioners in developing efficient communication strategies for addressing users less prone to fact-checking. Our contribution offers a new understanding of news literacy as a sufficient tool for combating misinformation, which actively equips users with knowledge and an attitude for social media news fact-checking.

Trust in Digitalization and AI: Findings from a Qualitative Study on Healthcare Professionals in Germany

The acceptance and use of digital technologies depend on the trustworthiness attributed to them. Experts were interviewed about how they assign trust to digital technologies or AI (N=12). The data were analyzed applying the focused qualitative content analysis. All of the experts have experience with digital technologies, but only seven with AI. The majority of experts generally trust digital technologies, but only five experts expressed a general trust in AI. Similar reasons contributing to trust building were given for digital technologies and AI. The results show the complexity of the trust building process and the construct of trust itself. The development of explainable AI and professional training are prerequisites to support a critical and safe use of these technologies.

The motivated appeal to hypocrisy: the relation of motivational threats to message rejection

Few studies have focused on the conditions in which individuals perceive hypocrisy in others. The current study introduces and tests the Motivated Appeal to Hypocrisy (MAtH) hypothesis. This hypothesis examines core social psychological motivational threats and asks (a) whether these are related to the accounts of individuals in charging others with hypocrisy, and (b) whether these perceptions of hypocrisy are associated with reductions in the persuasiveness of persons targeted as hypocrites. Study 1 (N = 201 ) was based on qualitative coding of stories and revealed, as expected, that violations of core social motives involving belongingness, understanding, control, self-enhancement, and trust are involved in participants' stories of hypocrisy. Study 2 (N = 237 ) used a multilevel correlational approach and demonstrated that violations of core social motives significantly predict perceptions of hypocrisy and the rejection of a person's message or advice. The relation between social motive violations and message rejection was mediated by perceptions of hypocrisy.

Exploring Political Mistrust in Pandemic Risk Communication: Mixed-Method Study Using Social Media Data Analysis

BACKGROUND

This research extends prior studies by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare on pandemic-related risk perception, concentrating on the role of trust in health authorities and its impact on public health outcomes.

OBJECTIVE

The paper aims to investigate variations in trust levels over time and across social media platforms, as well as to further explore 12 subcategories of political mistrust. It seeks to understand the dynamics of political trust, including mistrust accumulation, fluctuations over time, and changes in topic relevance. Additionally, the study aims to compare qualitative research findings with those obtained through computational methods.

METHODS

Data were gathered from a large-scale data set consisting of 13,629 Twitter and Facebook posts from 2020 to 2023 related to COVID-19. For analysis, a fine-tuned FinBERT model with an 80% accuracy rate was used for predicting political mistrust. The BERTopic model was also used for superior topic modeling performance.

RESULTS

Our preliminary analysis identifies 43 mistrust-related topics categorized into 9 major themes. The most salient topics include COVID-19 mortality, coping strategies, polymerase chain reaction testing, and vaccine efficacy. Discourse related to mistrust in authority is associated with perceptions of disease severity, willingness to adopt health measures, and information-seeking behavior. Our findings highlight that the distinct user engagement mechanisms and platform features of Facebook and Twitter contributed to varying patterns of mistrust and susceptibility to misinformation during the pandemic.

CONCLUSIONS

The study highlights the effectiveness of computational methods like natural language processing in managing large-scale engagement and misinformation. It underscores the critical role of trust in health authorities for effective risk communication and public compliance. The findings also emphasize the necessity for transparent communication from authorities, concluding that a holistic approach to public health communication is integral for managing health crises effectively.

A leap of faith: building the trust in human biobanks

Background: Human biobanks are an essential resource for contemporary medical research, crucial in treating and preventing human diseases and improving health. Public trust in human biobanks is a vital social prerequisite for their continued operation and related research. Methods: Drawing on the "leap of faith" theory proposed by Georg Simmel and Guido Möllering, this paper first examines the relationship between public trust and human biobanks and the process through which such trust is established. Subsequently, based on the results of this analysis, targeted policy recommendations are put forward to consolidate or enhance public trust in human biobanks. Results: Public trust in human biobanks stems from certain "good reasons," through which uncertainty and vulnerability are "suspended" by faith, leading to a leap toward the "land of expectations." In this progress, the critical factors in building and enhancing public trust in human biobanks are the public's propensity to trust, the inherent trustworthiness of human biobanks, and the security and interactivity of the trust environment. Conclusion: Public trust in human biobanks cannot be determined by any universal formula, as it is influenced by many factors, including intangible elements such as faith that defy empirical understanding. Nonetheless, public trust in human biobanks can be enhanced through measures such as fostering the public's propensity to trust, enhancing the inherent trustworthiness of human biobanks, establishing structural safeguards for the trust environment through ethical norms, systems, and supervision, and promoting public participation.

Pathway to Trust: A Middle-Range Theory

Background and Purpose: Trust is interpersonal, between two people, or institutional, in an institution or profession such as nursing. The patient developing interpersonal trust with the nurse is fundamental to nursing care. The purpose of this study was to develop a middle-range theory of interpersonal trust development in the nurse-patient relationship. Methods: The middle-range theory Pathway to Trust was synthesized from three grounded theory studies on the development of trust in the nurse-patient relationship with hospitalized patients. One study was conducted with English-speaking Mexican American adults, a second study with Spanish-speaking Mexican American adults, and the third study with non-Hispanic adults. The three models were synthesized into an empirically based middle-range theory of how interpersonal trust develops between the hospitalized patient and the nurse. Results: The Pathway to Trust has a beginning, middle, and end phase. At the beginning, the patient is vulnerable, relying on the nurse. In the middle, the nurse enters focused and available to the patient, perceived as caring about the patient. In the end, the patient develops trust, feeling comfortable with the nurse. A key consequence of trust is the patient allowing the nurse to help and confiding in the nurse. If the trust does not develop, the patient may avoid the nurse and not ask for help which is a patient safety concern. Implications for Practice: The Pathway to Trust is useful for advancing nursing practice, education, and research globally. Developing trust with the patient impacts patient safety and quality of care.

Development and validation of a personal responsibility scale for Chinese college students

Introduction

The complexity of the concept of responsibility has led to a relative lack of measuring tools. Meanwhile, the widely used measurement of conscientiousness in the Big Five personality traits suffers from inconsistencies in measuring personal responsibility. Therefore, measuring personal responsibility must be adapted to its cultural context. Spurred by these reasons, we developed a "Chinese College Student Personal Responsibility Scale" (CCSPRS) based on local theoretical foundations. Furthermore, we conducted a preliminary exploration using the new scale, examining the correlations between college students' responsibility, trust propensity, and prosocial behavior tendencies.

Methods

The initial version of the scale was subjected to item analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to form the formal version of the scale. A total of 1,038 college students were assembled. The reliability and validity of the scale were also analyzed. We collected data using the proposed CCSPRS, Interpersonal Trust Scale, and Prosocial Tendencies Measure Questionnaire and obtained 301 valid questionnaires.

Results

The scale's reliability and validity indicators met the development requirements, and the investigation revealed that women students scored significantly higher in responsibility than men students. Additionally, the responsibility scores were relatively high in the first and fourth years and low in the second and third years, presenting an approximate U-shaped trend. Besides, the college students' personal responsibility, trust propensity, and prosocial behavior tendencies were positively correlated.

Discussion

The proposed CCSPRS is an effective tool for measuring personal responsibility among Chinese college students. Additionally, this study analyzed the internal beliefs of individuals and concluded that personal responsibility, prosocial behavior, and trust propensity are closely interconnected, especially the relationship between responsibility and prosocial behavior.

Integrating intention-based systems in human-robot interaction: a scoping review of sensors, algorithms, and trust

The increasing adoption of robot systems in industrial settings and teaming with humans have led to a growing interest in human-robot interaction (HRI) research. While many robots use sensors to avoid harming humans, they cannot elaborate on human actions or intentions, making them passive reactors rather than interactive collaborators. Intention-based systems can determine human motives and predict future movements, but their closer interaction with humans raises concerns about trust. This scoping review provides an overview of sensors, algorithms, and examines the trust aspect of intention-based systems in HRI scenarios. We searched MEDLINE, Embase, and IEEE Xplore databases to identify studies related to the forementioned topics of intention-based systems in HRI. Results from each study were summarized and categorized according to different intention types, representing various designs. The literature shows a range of sensors and algorithms used to identify intentions, each with their own advantages and disadvantages in different scenarios. However, trust of intention-based systems is not well studied. Although some research in AI and robotics can be applied to intention-based systems, their unique characteristics warrant further study to maximize collaboration performance. This review highlights the need for more research on the trust aspects of intention-based systems to better understand and optimize their role in human-robot interactions, at the same time establishes a foundation for future research in sensor and algorithm designs for intention-based systems.

"We're trained to trust our patients": a qualitative study on the general practitioners' trust in patients for colorectal cancer shared care

BACKGROUND

In a therapeutic partnership, physicians rely on patients to describe their health conditions, join in shared decision-making, and engage with supported self-management activities. In shared care, the patient, primary care, and specialist services partner together using agreed processes and outputs for the patient to be placed at the centre of their care. However, few empirical studies have explored physicians' trust in patients and its implications for shared care models.

AIM

To explore trust in patients amongst general practitioners (GPs), and the impacts of trust on GPs' willingness to engage in new models of care, such as colorectal cancer shared care.

METHODS

GP participants were recruited through professional networks for semi-structured interviews. Transcripts were integrity checked, coded inductively, and themes developed iteratively.

RESULTS

Twenty-five interviews were analysed. Some GPs view trust as a responsibility of the physician and have a high propensity for trusting patients. For other GPs, trust in patients is developed over successive consultations based on patient characteristics such as honesty, reliability, and proactivity in self-care. GPs were more willing to engage in colorectal cancer shared care with patients with whom they have a developed, trusting relationship.

CONCLUSIONS

Trust plays a significant role in the patient's access to shared care. The implementation of shared care should consider the relational dynamics between the patient and health care providers.

Community organization perspectives on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and how they increased COVID-19 vaccine confidence: a Canadian Immunization Research Network, social sciences and humanities network study

Background

COVID-19 vaccines play a critical role in reducing the morbidity and mortality associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection and despite vaccine availability, disparities in COVID-19 vaccine uptake among Canadian subgroups exist. Community organizations are uniquely situated to relay important vaccine messaging around all vaccines, understand components of vaccine hesitancy, and facilitate vaccine uptake within the communities they serve. The objective of this research was to solicit community organizations perspectives specific to COVID-19 vaccines and explore strategies of increasing vaccine uptake within their communities.

Methods

A qualitative focus group study was held in the spring of 2021 with 40 community organizations from across the country. Discussions focused on COVID-19 vaccine communication and awareness within their communities, vaccine misinformation, and strategies to increase vaccine acceptance and access. Data were analyzed utilizing thematic and inductive techniques.

Results

Vaccine hesitancy was identified among staff and clients. Vaccine confidence, complacency, convenience, and mistrust in government and authorities were identified as contributors to vaccine hesitancy. Community organizations utilized innovative and novel methods to encourage vaccine uptake and increase vaccine confidence. Leveraging established trusting relationships was key to successful messaging within communities.

Conclusion

Community organizations used innovative methods, built on established trust, to increase vaccine confidence within their communities and among their staff. Community agencies played an important role in COVID-19 vaccine uptake within subgroups of the Canadian population. Community organizations are key public health partners and play a critical role in increasing COVID-19 vaccine confidence.

Women's perspectives on the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based technologies in mental healthcare

This study aimed to evaluate women's attitudes towards artificial intelligence (AI)-based technologies used in mental health care. We conducted a cross-sectional, online survey of U.S. adults reporting female sex at birth focused on bioethical considerations for AI-based technologies in mental healthcare, stratifying by previous pregnancy. Survey respondents (n = 258) were open to AI-based technologies in mental healthcare but concerned about medical harm and inappropriate data sharing. They held clinicians, developers, healthcare systems, and the government responsible for harm. Most reported it was "very important" for them to understand AI output. More previously pregnant respondents reported being told AI played a small role in mental healthcare was "very important" versus those not previously pregnant (P = .03). We conclude that protections against harm, transparency around data use, preservation of the patient-clinician relationship, and patient comprehension of AI predictions may facilitate trust in AI-based technologies for mental healthcare among women.

Trust in Therapeutic Work With Adolescents With and Without Personality Disorders: A Transference-Focused Therapy Perspective

Trust is central to successful therapeutic work with adolescents, but establishing trust can be challenging, especially with adolescents with personality disorders. We present our understanding of trust in working with adolescents with and without personality disorders. We draw on complementary and overlapping perspectives, namely the attachment model, Kernberg's object relations model, and Fonagy's mentalization model. In Kernberg's object relations conceptualization, difficulties in trust experienced by patients with borderline personality disorders result from paranoia associated with splitting and identity diffusion. In Fonagy's mentalization model, epistemic trust is rooted in early experiences of being responded to and understood. We outline how techniques used in transference-focused psychotherapy for adolescents promote the development of the adolescent's capacity to trust by facilitating identity integration, thus reducing paranoia. Finally, we use two clinical case illustrations to demonstrate how trust unfolds in working with adolescents with and without personality disorders.

Modulation of Trust in Borderline Personality Disorder by Script-Based Imaginal Exposure to Betrayal

Interpersonal and trust-related difficulties are central features of borderline personality disorder (BPD). In this study, we applied script-driven betrayal imagery to evoke mistrustful behavior in a social reinforcement learning task. In 21 BPD and 20 healthy control (HC) participants, we compared this approach to the standard confederate paradigm used in research studies. The script-driven imagery evoked a transient increase in negative affect and also decreased trusting behavior to a similar degree in both groups. Across conditions, we also replicated previously reported between-group differences in negative affect (increased in BPD) and task behavior (more sensitive to social cues in BPD). These results support the validity of script-driven imagery as an alternative social task stimulus. This script-driven imagery approach is appealing for clinical research studies on reinforcement learning because it eliminates deception, scales easily, and evokes disorder-specific states of social difficulty.

Interpersonal Trust and Borderline Personality Disorder: Insights From Clinical Practice and Research: Introduction

Individuals suffering from borderline personality disorder (BPD) show a pervasive sense that others cannot be trusted, are vulnerable to negative therapeutic reactions, and can oscillate between idealized and persecutory interactions with others. These trust processing impairments impact both the immediate and wider social milieu of individuals with BPD, including therapist-patient interactions. Recently, research started unraveling the social-cognitive mechanisms of these impairments in BPD. In this Special Issue, we attempt to close the gap between research findings and clinical theories on trust processing impairment in BPD. The first section includes five original studies on trust processing in BPD. The second section includes five articulations of trust processing impairment as a treatment target in evidence-based treatments for BPD and as an indispensable "common factor" in the treatment of BPD. These cutting-edge research and clinical contributions advance a potential integrative, clinical science framework for conceptualizing and intervening effectively with those who struggle with BPD.

Themes of trust, identity, intimacy, and generativity in important autobiographical memories: Associations with life periods and life satisfaction

INTRODUCTION

Guided by Erikson's theory of psychosocial development, the present study investigated whether themes of trust, identity, intimacy, and generativity are represented in older adults' most important autobiographical memories. Furthermore, we tested whether these themes are associated with certain life periods and whether having important memories (i.e., life story) that reflect developmental themes and are evaluated as positive is associated with life satisfaction.

METHODS

One hundred and twelve (59.8% female) older adults (61-92 years, M = 70.96, SD = 6.81) reported up to 15 important autobiographical memories. Participants rated each memory according to the themes of trust/mistrust, identity/confusion, intimacy/isolation, and generativity/stagnation.

RESULTS

Using multilevel multinomial logistic regression, we found childhood memories to be associated with trust, memories from participants' youth with identity and intimacy, and adulthood memories with intimacy and generativity. Moreover, participants who rated their autobiographical memories (i.e., life story) as high in reflecting themes and, at the same time, perceived their memories as more positive showed higher levels of life satisfaction.

CONCLUSION

Important autobiographical memories reflect how an individual became the person of today. They refer to age-related themes of psychosocial development and are associated with a person's life satisfaction if they are also considered as emotionally more positive.

Senior citizens' vitamin D supplements intake: evidence from Denmark

BACKGROUND

Several public interventions have been designed in recent years to urge the intake of vitamin D supplements among the senior population to avoid the direct and indirect consequences associated with vitamin D deficiency. However, the effectiveness of these public campaigns remains quite limited. In an online survey, the current study investigates attitudes towards vitamin D supplements intake and associated behaviours in a representative sample of Danish senior citizens (N = 554) - that is, individuals aged 55 years and above.

RESULTS

Approximately half of the sample reported taking vitamin D supplements in the preceding year. Furthermore, being male and having a positive perception of individuals' own health status increased the probability of being a non-user. Increasing confidence in the information provided by health authorities (such as medical doctors and pharmacies) is particularly critical for enhancing the likelihood of non-users to purchase vitamin D supplements. However, also encouraging the uptake of vitamin D supplements in specialized supermarkets with stands and promotions seems an appealing and practical solution to increase seniors' uptake of vitamin D supplements.

CONCLUSIONS

The present study outlines the characteristics of senior Danish non-users of vitamin D supplements. Additionally, the research provides information on the strategies that could be applied by public organizations to foster vitamin D supplements intake among this target segment of the population. © 2023 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

How Should Doctors Frame the Risk of a Vaccine's Adverse Side Effects? It Depends on How Trustworthy They Are

BACKGROUND

How health workers frame their communication about vaccines' probability of adverse side effects could play an important role in people's intentions to be vaccinated (e.g., positive frame: side effects are unlikely v. negative frame: there is a chance of side effects). Based on the pragmatic account of framing as implicit advice, we expected that participants would report greater vaccination intentions when a trustworthy physician framed the risks positively (v. negatively), but we expected this effect would be reduced or reversed when the physician was untrustworthy.

DESIGN

In 4 online experiments (n = 191, snowball sampling and n = 453, 451, and 464 UK residents via Prolific; Mage≈ 34 y, 70% women, 84% White British), we manipulated the trustworthiness of a physician and how they framed the risk of adverse side effects in a scenario (i.e., a chance v. unlikely adverse side effects). Participants reported their vaccination intention, their level of distrust in health care systems, and COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs.

RESULTS

Physicians who were trustworthy (v. untrustworthy) consistently led to an increase in vaccination intention, but the way they described adverse side effects mattered too. A positive framing of the risks given by a trustworthy physician consistently led to increased vaccination intention relative to a negative framing, but framing had no effect or the opposite effect when given by an untrustworthy physician. The exception to this trend occurred in unvaccinated individuals in experiment 3, following serious concerns about one of the COVID vaccines. In that study, unvaccinated participants responded more favorably to the negative framing of the trustworthy physician.

CONCLUSIONS

Trusted sources should use positive framing to foster vaccination acceptance. However, in a situation of heightened fears, a negative framing-attracting more attention to the risks-might be more effective.

HIGHLIGHTS

How health workers frame their communication about a vaccine's probability of adverse side effects plays an important role in people's intentions to be vaccinated.In 4 experiments, we manipulated the trustworthiness of a physician and how the physician framed the risk of adverse side effects of a COVID vaccine.Positive framing given by a trustworthy physician promoted vaccination intention but had null effect or did backfire when given by an untrustworthy physician.The effect occurred over and above participants' attitude toward the health care system, risk perceptions, and beliefs in COVID misinformation.

Social media trust predicts lower COVID-19 vaccination rates and higher excess mortality over 2 years

Trust plays a crucial role in implementing public health interventions against the COVID-19 pandemic. We examined the prospective associations of interpersonal, institutional, and media trust with vaccination rates and excess mortality over time in two multinational studies. In study 1, we investigated the country-level relationships between interpersonal trust, vaccination rates, and excess mortality across 54 countries. Interpersonal trust at the country level was calculated by aggregating data of 80,317 participants from the World Values Survey in 2017-20. Data on vaccination rates and excess mortality were obtained from the World Health Organization. Our findings indicated that higher levels of interpersonal trust were linked to higher vaccination rates and lower excess mortality rates in both 2020 and 2021. In study 2, we collected data from 18,171 adults in 35 countries/societies, stratified by age, gender, and region of residence. At the country/society level, interpersonal trust and trust in local healthcare facilities, local healthcare services, and healthcare professionals were associated with higher vaccination rates and lower excess mortality, whereas social media trust was associated with lower vaccination rates and higher excess mortality across three time points over 2 years. Our findings are robust when controlling for country-level covariates of the government stringency index, population density, and medical resources (i.e. critical care beds) in both studies.

Adolescent social capital: An intergenerational resource?

INTRODUCTION

There is abundant literature about the benefits of social capital in youth, but less is known of the origins of social capital. This study explores whether adolescents' social capital is shaped by their parents' social capital, their family's socioeconomic status (SES), and the socioeconomic profile of their neighborhood.

METHODS

The study uses cross-sectional survey data gathered from 12 to 13-year-old adolescents and their parents (n = 163) in Southwest Finland. For the analysis, adolescents' social capital was disaggregated into four dimensions: social networks, social trust, tendency to receive help, and tendency to provide help. Parents' social capital was measured both directly (parents' self-reports) and indirectly (adolescents' perceptions of their parents' sociability). The associations with the hypothesized predictors were analyzed using structural equation modeling.

RESULTS

The results suggest that social capital is not directly intergenerationally transmissible the way some biologically heritable traits are. Yet, parents' social capital shapes youngsters' perception of their sociability, and that, in turn, predicts each dimension of adolescents' social capital. Family SES is positively related to young people's reciprocal tendency, but the pathway flows indirectly through parents' social capital and adolescents' perception of parents' sociability. Conversely, a disadvantaged socioeconomic neighborhood is directly negatively associated with adolescents' social trust and tendency to receive help.

CONCLUSIONS

This study suggests that, in the studied Finnish, relatively egalitarian context, social capital is (at least partly) transmissible from parents to children, not directly, but indirectly through the mechanism of social learning.

Atypical Neural Plasticity and Behavioral Effects of Trustworthiness Learning in Borderline Personality Disorder Features

This study distinguishes interpersonal trust learning with a novel trust learning paradigm in participants high (H-BPD) and low (L-BPD) in BPD features. Neutral faces were paired with trust-relevant behaviors in four conditions: trustworthy, untrustworthy, ambiguously trustworthy, and mixed trustworthiness. After training, participants rated faces on untrustworthiness as electroencephalographic measures were recorded. H-BPD rated neutral faces as significantly more untrustworthy than L-BPD at both time periods. Negative and ambiguous trustworthiness pairing conditions led to higher ratings of untrustworthiness, whereas trustworthy and mixed descriptors led to lower ratings of untrustworthiness. Learning enhanced the amplitude of an early sensory event-related potential (ERP) component (i.e., P1) for both groups. The slow-wave ERP, an index of sustained attention, revealed greater focus after learning to trustworthy descriptors in H-BPD and to untrustworthy descriptors in L-BPD. H-BPD utilized greater effort to overcome an inherent mistrust bias and L-BPD to overcome unexpected untrustworthy information.

Interpersonal Trust in Adolescents With Borderline Personality Disorder: Comparisons With Healthy and Psychiatric Controls

The aim of the current study was to utilize a well-known trust versus lottery paradigm to evaluate interpersonal trust in adolescents with borderline personality disorder (BPD). The study included 126 healthy controls, 59 inpatient adolescents with a diagnosis of BPD, and 137 inpatient adolescents without BPD. Alongside diagnostic measures, a questionnaire-based measure for assessing trust beliefs was administered to probe group differences in trust beliefs and associations between game behavior and trust beliefs. No main effect for group or condition was found. A significant interaction of trial and group was noted, suggesting that across games, psychiatric controls demonstrated the steepest increase in trust over time, followed by the BPD and healthy control groups. Healthy controls evidenced significantly higher levels of trust beliefs compared to BPD and psychiatric controls. Reasons for nonreplication of previously demonstrated anomalous game behavior in adults in this adolescent sample are discussed.

Becoming Trustworthy in Treating Patients With Borderline Personality Disorder

No one doubts the importance of trust in psychotherapy, but few therapists think about the complexities of trusting relationships, and the trustworthiness that would justify trusting remains far from view. Fortunately, inasmuch as trusting and trustworthiness are inherently ethical concepts, contemporary philosophers have given trust the consideration it warrants. Integrating science and philosophy, the author reviews the broad scope and multifaceted nature of trust and trustworthiness, the social-cognitive development of trust, and the development of distrust in the context of borderline personality disorder. Without questioning therapists' character, the author makes the case for shifting the emphasis from the patient's distrust to the therapist's challenge to become trustworthy in the course of each treatment relationship and, more broadly, over the course of a professional career.

Accuracy and Bias in Facial Trustworthiness Appraisals in Borderline Personality Disorder

Individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) have shown a negativity bias, whereas the general population has shown a positivity bias in their trustworthiness appraisal of others. We tested if individuals with BPD are more negative but also more realistic with their appraisals. Trustworthiness was objectified on an external criterion. The influence of childhood trauma was investigated. Facial photographs of peace prize laureates and sentenced murderers were presented. Participants with BPD and healthy controls (HC) rated the trustworthiness of the targets. Bias and sensitivity were measured using signal detection theory. The BPD group was more negatively biased compared to HC, but not more sensitive in discriminating between the two groups. When correcting for experienced childhood abuse and neglect, the authors found that group differences in bias disappeared. Individuals with BPD might not be more sensitive in discriminating between, on average, more or less trustworthy targets, but they have developed a negativity bias to ensure the detection of untrustworthiness.

[Methodical approach to the construction of the index of doctors' confidence in their activities]

INTRODUCTION

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the importance of developing a state policy to increase the attractiveness of a doctor's work and counteract professional burnout. The trust of doctors in their work determines the state of human resources in the field of healthcare. The development of an approach to the organization of monitoring the trust of doctors will allow identifying organizations at an early stage in which there is a decrease in the confidence of doctors in their activities. The purpose of the study is to develop and test a methodological approach to calculating the index of trust of doctors.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

To construct the index, a list of statements was developed that are applicable for a comprehensive assessment of the doctor's activities. The approbation of the developed approach was carried out as part of a pilot sociological study in which 346 doctors from different regions of Russia took part. The significance of the statements used in the assessment was confirmed by binary probit regression.

RESULTS

The analysis made it possible to calculate the index of doctors' trust for the obtained sample, equal to 62,5%. The results of the study can be used to assess the attitude of doctors to their activities both at the regional level and at the level of individual organizations. The Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation can use the results obtained to develop approaches to increasing the attractiveness of the medical profession to increase the public health of Russia.

Increasing a patient's sense of security in the hospital: A theory of trust and nursing action

Having a decreased sense of security leads to unnecessary suffering and distress for patients. Establishing trust is critical for nurses to promote a patient's sense of security, consistent with trauma-informed care. Research regarding nursing action, trust, and sense of security is wide-ranging but fragmented. We used theory synthesis to organize the disparate existing knowledge into a testable middle-range theory encompassing these concepts in hospitals. The resulting model illustrates how individuals are admitted to the hospital with some predisposition to trust or mistrust the healthcare system and/or personnel. Patients encounter circumstances increasing their emotional and/or physical vulnerability to harm, leading to experiences of fear and anxiety. Without intervention, fear and anxiety lead to a decreased sense of security, increased distress, and suffering. Nurse action can ameliorate these effects by increasing a hospitalized person's sense of security or by promoting the development of interpersonal trust, also leading to an increased sense of security. Increased sense of security results in diminished anxiety and fear, and increased hopefulness, confidence, calm, sense of value, and sense of control. The consequences of a decreased sense of security are harmful to patients and nurses should know that they can intervene in ways that both increase interpersonal trust and sense of security.

Corrective Experiences to Enhance Trust: Clinical Wisdom From Good (Enough) Psychiatric Management

Unstable trust within social interchange underlies the symptom constellation of borderline personality disorder (BPD), resulting in preoccupation with intense dyadic relationships, limited capacity for social collaboration, and constricted social networks. Good Psychiatric Management (GPM) provides a distilled formulation of how interpersonal hypersensitivities drive the engine of BPD's symptomatic oscillations in both affect and attachment. The authors summarize clinically relevant conclusions from the empirical literature on trust in BPD, synthesize it with selected ideas from other empirically supported interventions, and distill a formulation of how the GPM approach can address problems of trust in BPD with strategies most clinicians can use to improve their work with patients. GPM's clinical management approach utilizes common factors in psychotherapy to structure collaboration with patients to be accountable partners in treatment, rely on themselves more to diminish unrealistic demands on others, and function more effectively in arenas that expand and stabilize their social network.

Insight in the Conspiracist's Mind

ACADEMIC ABSTRACT

The motto of the conspiracist, "Do your own research," may seem ludicrous to scientists. Indeed, it is often dismissed as a mere rhetorical device that conspiracists use to give themselves the semblance of science. In this perspective paper, we explore the information-seeking activities ("research") that conspiracists do engage in. Drawing on the experimental psychology of aha experiences, we explain how these activities, as well as the epistemic experiences that precede (curiosity) or follow (insight or "aha" experiences) them, may play a crucial role in the appeal and development of conspiracy beliefs. Aha moments have properties that can be exploited by conspiracy theories, such as the potential for false but seemingly grounded conclusions. Finally, we hypothesize that the need for autonomous epistemic agency and discovery is universal but increases as people experience more uncertainty and/or feel epistemically excluded in society, hence linking it to existing literature on explaining conspiracy theories.

PUBLIC ABSTRACT

Recent events have made it painfully clear that conspiracy beliefs can tear deep rifts in society and that we still have not found an adequate, de-escalating response to this. To understand the appeal of conspiracy theories and find new, humanizing ways to talk about them, we propose in this perspective paper to start from the universal human need to autonomously make discoveries through personal knowledge-generating actions. Indeed, psychological research shows that the aha experiences that accompany subjective discoveries create confidence in and perceived ownership of ideas that may be exploited by conspiracy theories. We hypothesize that people experiencing more uncertainty and/or epistemic exclusion in society will especially feel the need to re-establish autonomous epistemic agency and discovery. While this explanation starts from shared human experiences and practices, it also illustrates the potential of those processes to lead to a narrowed world and ossified cognition.

How Worried Are You about Food Fraud? A Preliminary Multi-Country Study among Consumers in Selected Sub-Saharan African Countries

Food fraud is an old, recurring, and global threat to public health. It poses a serious threat to food security in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Despite the prevalence of food fraud in SSA, little is known about how food fraud is viewed by consumers. This study aims to provide an overview of consumers' concerns about food fraud in SSA. A multi-country survey was conducted in October 2022-31 January 2023, and 838 valid responses were returned. To reduce the large and correlated dataset, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used. Five components were derived from PCA: (i) Staple foods; (ii) Premium food and drink products; (iii) Trust in reliable sources; (iv) Trust in less reliable sources; and (v) Trust in food vendors. The findings revealed Ghanaian (mean rank = 509.47) and Nigerian (mean rank = 454.82) consumers tended to score higher on the measure of food fraud concern suggesting that they were less confident in the safety and quality of the food they consume. Demographic characteristics including age, number of children, personal and family experience of food fraud and PCA components such as 'Staple foods', 'Trust in reliable sources', and 'Trust in food vendors' significantly predicted the model. This is the first preliminary study to provide empirical findings on consumers' concerns about food fraud in SSA. Practical and policy recommendations for the region are suggested. This includes (i) modelling the AfriFoodinTegrity in West Africa across other major regions such as Central, East, and Southern Africa; (ii) establish a regional sub-Saharan Africa Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (SSA-RASFF) platform; and (iii) food safety and food fraud reports could be incorporated into SSA-RASFF portal for information sharing.

Does rDLPFC activity alter trust? Evidence from a tDCS study

Trust plays an important role in the human economy and people's social lives. Trust is affected by various factors and is related to many brain regions, such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). However, few studies have focused on the impact of the DLPFC on trust through transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), although abundant psychology and neuroscience studies have theoretically discussed the possible link between DLPFC activity and trust. In the present study, we aimed to provide evidence of a causal relationship between the rDLPFC and trust behavior by conducting multiple rounds of the classical trust game and applying tDCS over the rDLPFC. We found that overall, anodal stimulation increased trust compared with cathodal stimulation and sham stimulation, while the results in different stages were not completely the same. Our work indicates a causal relationship between rDLPFC excitability and trust behavior and provides a new direction for future research.

Comparing Single-Item and Multi-Item Trust Scales: Insights for Assessing Trust in Project Leaders

The purpose of this research is to provide researchers and leaders with a reliable and up-to-date comparison between a single-item and a multi-item trust scale, enabling effective assessment of team members' trust in their leaders. The aim of the study is to investigate whether a single-question scale is as reliable as a multi-item questionnaire in measuring trust. An additional goal is to provide researchers with insights and conditions for effectively using single or multiple measures to assess trust in leaders, considering factors like reliability and effectiveness. After conducting a comprehensive literature review, data were collected from 101 project members in Brazil using a survey methodology. The respondents were asked to provide feedback regarding their leaders, specifically project managers, and factor analysis was then employed to test the single-item and multi-item measures of trust. The advantages and disadvantages of each approach are discussed. The findings of our study demonstrate that both single-item and multi-item scales of trust should be utilized to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the trust construct. Single-item questionnaires can reduce survey length, improve respondent friendliness, and increase participant willingness. On the other hand, multi-item questionnaires enable researchers to analyze latent variables that contribute to an overall variable, but they cannot isolate data for each of those constructs. The results show that both measures are reliable, providing researchers and professionals with insights into the benefits and drawbacks associated with each method. Consequently, this research equips researchers and project professionals with valuable information for selecting the appropriate measurement tool.

A Quantum Model of Trust Calibration in Human-AI Interactions

This exploratory study investigates a human agent's evolving judgements of reliability when interacting with an AI system. Two aims drove this investigation: (1) compare the predictive performance of quantum vs. Markov random walk models regarding human reliability judgements of an AI system and (2) identify a neural correlate of the perturbation of a human agent's judgement of the AI's reliability. As AI becomes more prevalent, it is important to understand how humans trust these technologies and how trust evolves when interacting with them. A mixed-methods experiment was developed for exploring reliability calibration in human-AI interactions. The behavioural data collected were used as a baseline to assess the predictive performance of the quantum and Markov models. We found the quantum model to better predict the evolving reliability ratings than the Markov model. This may be due to the quantum model being more amenable to represent the sometimes pronounced within-subject variability of reliability ratings. Additionally, a clear event-related potential response was found in the electroencephalographic (EEG) data, which is attributed to the expectations of reliability being perturbed. The identification of a trust-related EEG-based measure opens the door to explore how it could be used to adapt the parameters of the quantum model in real time.

Role of Trust, Risk Perception, and Perceived Benefit in COVID-19 Vaccination Intention of the Public

COVID-19 vaccination is an effective method for dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. This study proposed and validated a theoretical intention model for explaining the COVID-19 vaccination intention (CVI) of the public. The theoretical intention model incorporated trust in vaccines, two types of risk perception (risk perception of COVID-19 and risk perception of COVID-19 vaccination), and perceived benefit into a theory of planned behavior (TPB). Structural equation modeling was utilized to test the theoretical intention model with data collected from 816 Chinese adults in China. The results confirmed the crucial role of trust in vaccines, risk perception, and perceived benefit in shaping the CVI of the public. In addition, TPB was found to be applicable in a research context. The theoretical intention model accounted for 78.8% of the variance in CVI. Based on the findings, several practical recommendations for improving COVID-19 vaccination rates were discussed.

An analysis of metaphor in COVID-19 TV news in English and Spanish

BACKGROUND

Latinxs lack equitable access to science-based, accessible, trustworthy, and bilingual health information and rely heavily on TV news as a source of health information. This study examines how TV news media convey COVID-19 health- and safety-related information to the public, focusing on communications that target Latinxs in the US, a group disproportionately affected by COVID-19.

METHOD

To understand how information targets Latinxs, we analyzed conceptual metaphors used in Spanish and English descriptions of the COVID-19 pandemic using TV news archive. Metaphor is an integral part of daily communication that can help people explain what is abstract in terms of what is concrete. Our analysis focused on prominent COVID-19 metaphors in both languages: war, journey, and natural disaster.

RESULTS

Similar to previous studies, we found that war metaphors were pervasive in English, for instance, as in 'Diagnostic testing is the only weapon that allows you to fight COVID-19' and 'a 15-day battle with COVID-19.' A new finding was that war metaphors were even more common in Spanish than in English. The journey metaphor had similar rates of use in both languages, while the natural disaster metaphors were more common in English than in Spanish.

CONCLUSIONS

Our work provides novel insights into how TV news reports use metaphor to convey information about COVID-19 to viewers in English and Spanish. We also offer implications on using culturally informed language and conclude with directions for future research to guide health communications serving linguistic minority communities such as Latinxs.

Anthropomorphic framing and failure comprehensibility influence different facets of trust towards industrial robots

Introduction: Utilizing anthropomorphic features in industrial robots is a prevalent strategy aimed at enhancing their perception as collaborative team partners and promoting increased tolerance for failures. Nevertheless, recent research highlights the presence of potential drawbacks associated with this approach. It is still widely unknown, how anthropomorphic framing influences the dynamics of trust especially, in context of different failure experiences. Method: The current laboratory study wanted to close this research gap. To do so, fifty-one participants interacted with a robot that was either anthropomorphically or technically framed. In addition, each robot produced either a comprehensible or an incomprehensible failure. Results: The analysis revealed no differences in general trust towards the technically and anthropomorphically framed robot. Nevertheless, the anthropomorphic robot was perceived as more transparent than the technical robot. Furthermore, the robot's purpose was perceived as more positive after experiencing a comprehensible failure. Discussion: The perceived higher transparency of anthropomorphically framed robots might be a double-edged sword, as the actual transparency did not differ between both conditions. In general, the results show that it is essential to consider trust multi-dimensionally, as a uni-dimensional approach which is often focused on performance might overshadow important facets of trust like transparency and purpose.

Evaluation of the Rosa Chatbot Providing Genetic Information to Patients at Risk of Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer: Qualitative Interview Study

BACKGROUND

Genetic testing has become an integrated part of health care for patients with breast or ovarian cancer, and the increasing demand for genetic testing is accompanied by an increasing need for easy access to reliable genetic information for patients. Therefore, we developed a chatbot app (Rosa) that is able to perform humanlike digital conversations about genetic BRCA testing.

OBJECTIVE

Before implementing this new information service in daily clinical practice, we wanted to explore 2 aspects of chatbot use: the perceived utility and trust in chatbot technology among healthy patients at risk of hereditary cancer and how interaction with a chatbot regarding sensitive information about hereditary cancer influences patients.

METHODS

Overall, 175 healthy individuals at risk of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer were invited to test the chatbot, Rosa, before and after genetic counseling. To secure a varied sample, participants were recruited from all cancer genetic clinics in Norway, and the selection was based on age, gender, and risk of having a BRCA pathogenic variant. Among the 34.9% (61/175) of participants who consented for individual interview, a selected subgroup (16/61, 26%) shared their experience through in-depth interviews via video. The semistructured interviews covered the following topics: usability, perceived usefulness, trust in the information received via the chatbot, how Rosa influenced the user, and thoughts about future use of digital tools in health care. The transcripts were analyzed using the stepwise-deductive inductive approach.

RESULTS

The overall finding was that the chatbot was very welcomed by the participants. They appreciated the 24/7 availability wherever they were and the possibility to use it to prepare for genetic counseling and to repeat and ask questions about what had been said afterward. As Rosa was created by health care professionals, they also valued the information they received as being medically correct. Rosa was referred to as being better than Google because it provided specific and reliable answers to their questions. The findings were summed up in 3 concepts: "Anytime, anywhere"; "In addition, not instead"; and "Trustworthy and true." All participants (16/16) denied increased worry after reading about genetic testing and hereditary breast and ovarian cancer in Rosa.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results indicate that a genetic information chatbot has the potential to contribute to easy access to uniform information for patients at risk of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer, regardless of geographical location. The 24/7 availability of quality-assured information, tailored to the specific situation, had a reassuring effect on our participants. It was consistent across concepts that Rosa was a tool for preparation and repetition; however, none of the participants (0/16) supported that Rosa could replace genetic counseling if hereditary cancer was confirmed. This indicates that a chatbot can be a well-suited digital companion to genetic counseling.

Securing the Trustworthiness of the FDA to Build Public Trust in Vaccines

The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the need to examine public trust in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) vaccine approval process and the role of political influence in the FDA's decisions. Ensuring that the FDA is itself trustworthy is important for justifying public trust in its actions, like vaccine approvals, thereby promoting public health. We propose five conditions of trustworthiness that the FDA should meet when it reviews vaccines, even during emergencies: consistency with rules, proper expert or political decision-makers, proper decision-making and noninterference, connection to public preference, and transparency of both reasons and procedures. The five conditions provide a road map of procedural and substantive requirements, which the FDA has variably implemented, focused on ensuring appropriate influence of political interests. While being a trustworthy agency cannot guarantee the public's trust, implementing these conditions builds a groundwork for public trust.

The Public Performativity of Trust

Building trust between academic medical centers and certain communities they depend on in the research process is hard, particularly when those communities consist of minoritized or historically marginalized populations. Some believe that engagement activities like the creation of advisory boards, town halls, or a research workforce that looks more like community members will establish or reestablish trust between academic medical centers and racialized communities. However, without systematic approaches to dismantle racism, those well-intended actions become public performativity, and trust building will fail. In this essay, we draw upon foundational ethical principles of trust, distrust, and trust building; apply the concept of bounded justice to performative trust acts; and center the works of Black and Indigenous feminist bioethicists to revisit some of the wisdom and valuable lessons they have contributed. Rebuilding trust is hard to do because people and institutions are often not honest about how hard it is and there is no simple box-checking task that can disentangle our society's injustices, but there are steps to take in this direction. Individuals and institutions can recognize valuable relevant work that has already been written, partake in critical reflection, and then apply insights gained to take both small and sustainable steps toward transformational change and deeper trust.

Conceptualizing Trust and Distrust as Alternative Stable States: Lessons from the Flint Water Crisis

Despite the universally recognized importance of fostering trust and avoiding distrust in governance relationships, there remains considerable debate on core questions like the relation between (dis)trust and the evaluations of the characteristics that make a governance agent appear (un)worthy of trust. In particular, it remains unclear whether levels of (dis)trust simply follow levels of (dis)trustworthiness-such that building trust is primarily a question of increasing evidence of trustworthiness and avoiding evidence of distrustworthiness, or if their dynamics are more complicated. The current paper adds novel theory for thinking about the management of trust and distrust in the governance context through the application of principles borrowed from resilience theory. Specifically, we argue that trust and distrust exist as distinct, self-reinforcing (i.e., stable) states separated by a threshold. We then theorize as to the nature of the self-reinforcing processes and use qualitative data collected from and inductively coded in collaboration with Flint residents as part of a participatory process to look for evidence of our argument in a well-documented governance failure. We conclude by explaining how this novel perspective allows for clearer insight into the experience of this and other communities and speculate as to how it may help to better position governance actors to respond to future crises.

The relationship between trust, belief and adherence among patients who complain of hypertension in Ghana

AIM

We determined the relationship between trust, belief and adherence among patients who complain of hypertension in Ghana.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional design was used.

METHOD

We sampled 447 Ghanaians with hypertension receiving care at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. Data were collected using a pre-tested self-administered questionnaire. Data analyses were conducted with the aid of Stata 15.0.

RESULTS

There is low belief and trust in the biomedical treatment for hypertension. Only 36.9% of the respondents said they adhered to treatment with females expressing higher level of adherence. Trust and belief in allopathic care were associated with adherence to treatment. It is recommended that health workers identify effective ways of improving patients' trust in the allopathic care for hypertension through teaching and re-enforcement models to enhance treatment adherence and reduce the complications of hypertension. Patient or Public Contribution.

Physician Perspectives on Building Trust with Patients

Prior research has documented how important it is to patients to be able to trust their physicians. In this essay, we introduce physician perspectives on the importance of earning patients' trust. We conducted twelve semistructured interviews in late 2022, eleven with physicians and one with a patient-experience expert. Physicians described earning patients' trust as crucial for working effectively with patients, with several saying that it was as important as having medical knowledge. Physicians also expressed that feeling a patient trusting them is professionally rewarding and fulfilling. To build trust with patients, physicians reported, they make the medical interaction all about the patient, express their belief in their patients, share their personal experiences, and use other strategies identified in previous literature: communicating effectively, being compassionate, and demonstrating competence. Physicians also reported experiencing challenges in building trust with patients, most often because of patients' lack of trust in other levels of the health care system and because of having inadequate time to spend with patients. Additionally, Black and Brown physicians described how patients' bias often blocks trust.

Betraying, Earning, or Justifying Trust in Health Organizations

Health care and public health programs increasingly rely on, and often even require, organizational action, which is facilitated, if not dependent on, trust. Case examples in this essay highlight trust, trustworthiness, and distrust in public and private organizations, providing insights into how trust in health-related organizations can be betrayed, earned, and justified and into the consequences of organizational trust and trustworthiness for the health of individuals and communities. These examples demonstrate the need for holistic assessments of trust in clinicians and trust in organizations and for organizations, public health, and the medical profession to address questions concerning their own trustworthiness. Normative and empirical assessments of trust and trustworthiness that capture the experiences of those treated within the walls of a health care organization, as well as the care of those outside, will contribute to more trustworthy systems of care.

Trust in Crises and Crises of Trust

During times of crisis, institutions tend to focus on maintaining or restoring public trust, as well as on measures to insulate themselves (and their leadership) from potential legal liability. This is because institutions reflexively turn to lawyers, risk managers, crisis consultants, and public relations firms that focus on what they euphemistically call the "optics." In this essay, I highlight the vital importance of addressing underlying reasons for an institution's loss of public trust-in particular, the loss (or erosion) of its integrity and trustworthiness. Loss of public trust generates one kind of crisis-which I term "opsis." But there is another kind of institutional crisis that so often remains unrecognized. Just as medical sepsis in the human body is a critical condition that endangers life, the loss of an institution's integrity and trustworthiness constitutes a type of sepsis-ethical sepsis-that poses an existential threat to the institution if unaddressed.

When Artists Go to Work: On the Ethics of Engaging the Arts in Public Health

Collaboration between the arts and health sectors is gaining momentum. Artists are contributing significantly to public health efforts such as vaccine confidence campaigns. Artists and the arts are well positioned to contribute to the social conditions needed to build trust in the health sector. Health professionals, organizations, and institutions should recognize not only the power that can be derived from the insights, artefacts, and expertise of artists and the arts to create the conditions that make trust possible. The health sector must also recognize that, while it can gain much from partnership with artists, artists risk much-namely, the public's trust-when they are in such partnerships. This essay unpacks these claims and considers the care and ethical considerations that must be brought to these partnerships to yield constructive pathways for ethical collaboration as well as for both establishing public trust and continuing to hold the health care profession accountable for becoming more trustworthy.

Demonstrating Trustworthiness to Patients in Data-Driven Health Care

Patient data is used to drive an ecosystem of advanced digital tools in health care, like predictive models or artificial intelligence-based decision support. Patients themselves, however, receive little information about these technologies or how they affect their care. This raises important questions about patient trust and continued engagement in a health care system that extracts their data but does not treat them as key stakeholders. This essay explores these tensions and provides steps forward for health systems as they design advanced health information-technology (IT) policies and practices. It centers patients, their concerns, and the ways they perceive trustworthiness to reframe advanced health IT in service of patient interests.

Regaining Trust in Public Health and Biomedical Science following Covid: The Role of Scientists

Biomedical science suffered a loss of trust during the Covid-19 pandemic. Why? One reason is a crisis fueled by confusion over the epistemology of science. Attacks on biomedical expertise rest on a mistaken view of what the justification is for crediting scientific information. The ideas that science is characterized by universal agreement and that any evolution or change of beliefs about facts and theories undermines trustworthiness in science are simply false. Biomedical science is trustworthy precisely because it is fallible, admits error, adjusts to new information, and, most importantly, is practical. Successful diagnosis and cure demarcate the boundaries of warranted knowledge. The other reason is sociological. As the pandemic made all too clear, the loss of faith in scientific experts was due to the failure of most of them to engage in regular public dialogue, reflecting a failure to recognize the obligation that science has to bolster trust in its work and findings by concerted public engagement.

Measuring Trust in Primary Care

Policy Points Trust in primary care clinicians is essential for effective patient care and is associated with better health outcomes, but it is rarely assessed, and existing measures have not been thoroughly evaluated. This scoping review reveals that research assessing patients' trust in primary care clinicians largely stopped more than a decade ago but offers candidate measures for future testing, implementation, and policy applications.

CONTEXT

Trust is a fundamental aspect of any human relationship, and medical care is no exception. An ongoing, trusting relationship between clinicians and patients has shown demonstrable value to primary care. However, there is currently no measure of trust in general use, and none endorsed for use by most value-based payment programs. This review searched the literature for any existing measures of patient trust in primary care clinicians and assessed their potential to be implemented as a patient-reported outcome measure.

METHODS

A keyword search on PubMed along with scanning references was conducted to find any trust measures in health care. Measures that did not address primary care clinicians were eliminated and the remaining measures were then assessed for their utility to primary care.

RESULTS

This purposeful, scoping review found four tested measures for assessing patients' trust in primary care clinicians that are candidates for general use. Of these four, the revised Trust in Physicians Scale and Wake Forest Physician Trust Scale are the most tested and viable options.

CONCLUSION

Renewed national interest in trust in health care should focus on the capacity to measure it. This review informs the effort to test trust measures for use in research, practice improvement, and value-based payment. Measuring trust, how it relates to outcomes, and learning how it is produced or lost are key to assisting practices and health systems toward earning it.

When Mistakes Multiply: How Inadequate Responses to Medical Mishaps Erode Trust in American Medicine

In this essay, we explore consequences of the systemic failure to track and to publicize the prevalence of patient-safety threats in American medicine. Tens of millions of Americans lose trust in medical care every year due to safety shortfalls. Because this loss of trust is long-lasting, the corrosive effects build up over time, yielding a collective maelstrom of mistrust among the American public. Yet no one seems to notice that patient safety is a root cause, because no one is counting. In addition to identifying the origins of this purblindness, we offer an alternative policy approach. This would call for government to transparently track safety threats through the systematic collection and reporting of patients' experiences. This alternative strategy offers real promise for stemming the erosion of trust that currently accompanies patient-safety shortfalls while staying consistent with Americans' preferences for a constrained government role with respect to medical care.

Social feedback promotes positive social sharing, trust, and closeness

Positive social sharing is an interpersonal emotion regulation strategy that enhances positive affect and social belonging, particularly when met with positive social feedback. Despite the ubiquity of positive social sharing both in person and online, what drives this behavior is not well understood. We hypothesized that positive social feedback serves as a reward that reinforces sharing behavior and strengthens social bonds. Participants made trial-by-trial choices about whether to share social media photos with peers who returned positive ("likes") or negative ("dislikes") feedback. Unbeknownst to participants, peer conditions were manipulated to yield varying amounts of positive and negative feedback. Social bonding was subsequently measured using a trust game and subjective closeness ratings. Participants shared more with peers who provided greater rates of positive feedback. This effect generalized to trust decisions and subjective feelings of closeness and varied individually as a function of interpersonal emotion regulation in daily life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).