Social Class Bias in Healthcare

Page Contents

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Research Questions
Approach
Findings
Original Stimuli
Presentation
Code Sample

Questions

I. How does patient social class impact how they are perceived and treated?

II. How can healthcare provider mindsets be leveraged with a behavioral intervention to improve their approach toward low-SES patients?

Approach

To explore these questions, I conducted a two-part research study. The findings of this study are currently being finalized in my dissertation!

Part I

I designed an experimental study to compare the experiences of a low- versus high-SES medical patient. The study involved an immersive telehealth paradigm via a fictional company called Telemed. Participant quantitative responses were analyzed with a mixed-effects model (repeated-measures ANOVA).

Part II

I designed a mindset intervention aimed to promote an empathic mindset in healthcare providers. The intervention highlighted issues related to patient trust and on the importance of the patient-provider relationship.

Part II

I found that, compared to a neutral control condition, the mindset intervention significantly improved medical doctors’ (MDs) beliefs about patients.

Part I

Even when exhibiting the same noncompliant behavior, low-SES patients are perceived worse than high-SES patients.

Compared to high-SES patients, low-SES patients are perceived to be…

  • More lazy

  • Less honest

  • Exaggerating their pain more

I also found a social class discrepancy in the treatment prescribed to patients.

Findings

Part II

Below are the articles in the empathic mindset condition of the intervention.

Part I

Below are stimuli from the immersive telehealth experimental paradigm.

Original Stimuli

Presentation

Click through the slides below to see how I have presented this work at conferences!