THE EFFECT OF PERCEIVED PATIENT RESPONSIBILITY ON CHARACTEROLOGICAL, BEHAVIORAL, AND QUALITY-OF-CARE ASSESSMENTS

In two experiments, subjects were assigned to one of three conditions in which they read medical profiles that manipulated the patients' deg ree of responsibility for acquiring an illness. Subjects rated each pa tient on seven bipolar traits and four measures of likely behavior in a medical setting. Finally, patients were rated as to the quality of m edical care that they should receive. In Experiment 1, undergraduate s ubjects derogated patients perceived responsible for their illness on the personality characteristics, and did not expect them to follow a n umber of medically related behaviors. In addition, men, but not women, responded that patients responsible for illness onset should receive a lower quality of medical care, particularly for more serious illness es. Experiment 2 showed that nursing students made negative charactero logical assessments of patients perceived responsible for their illnes s and negative inferences as to the likely behaviors these patients wo uld exhibit. Nursing students' ratings of quality of care, however, di ffered across illness rather than as a function of responsibility. Imp lications of these data for decisions regarding resource allocation an d patient-practitioner interactions are considered.