Unrealistic optimism example trial#

Overall, English participants showed neither optimism nor pessimism for good events.

In India those of higher socioeconomic status (SES) were optimistic, while those of lower SES were on average pessimistic. The position regarding comparative optimism for good events was more complex. Two hundred and eighty seven middle aged and middle income participants (200 in India, 87 in England) rated 11 positive and 11 negative events in terms of the chances of each event occurring in “their own life,” and the chances of each event occurring in the lives of “people like them.” Comparative optimism was shown for bad events, with Indian participants showing higher levels of optimism than English participants. The current study extends enquiry to a different non-Western culture. However, construing unrealistic optimism as a form of self-enhancement, some researchers noted that it was far less common in East Asian cultures. At first, the bulk of research was conducted using populations in North America and Northern Europe, the optimistic bias was thought of as universal, and little attention was paid to cultural context. Department of Psychology, Social Work and Public Health, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UKįollowing Weinstein’s (1980) pioneering work many studies established that people have an optimistic bias concerning future life events.Sulmasy, “Unrealistic Optimism in Early-Phase Oncology Trials,” IRB: Ethics & Human Research 33, no. Key words/concepts: unrealistic optimism, informed consent to research, risks and benefits to research participants, clinical trials Our findings suggest that improving the consent process for oncology studies requires more than addressing deficits in understanding. In addition, we found no significant relationship between respondents’ understanding of the trial’s purpose and how susceptible they were to unrealistic optimism.

Unrealistic optimism example trial#

Respondents tended to overestimate the benefits of the trial they were enrolled in and underestimate its risks. We found a significant optimistic bias in their responses. Participants in our study were asked to compare their own chances of experiencing a range of risks and benefits related to the trial they were enrolled in with the chances of the other trial participants. In order to test for the prevalence of unrealistic optimism among participants of early-phase oncology trials, we conducted a survey with patients over 18 years of age who were enrolled in a phase I, phase I/II, or phase II clinical cancer trial in the New York City area between August 2008 and October 2009. The phenomenon has been seen in a range of health-related contexts-including when prospective participants are presented with the risks and benefits of participating in a clinical trial. Unrealistic optimism is a bias that leads people to believe, with respect to a specific event or hazard, that they are more likely to experience positive outcomes and/or less likely to experience negative outcomes than similar others. Share: Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email this Post Published On: FebruVolume: 33 | Issue: 1