A role for the sick role
| Table 4: Association between subjects' preferred decision-making role and group (patients v. companions) for the 4 vignettes* | ||||
| Vignette; role | Subject group; no. (and %) of subjects† | |||
| Patients with cancer | Patients who had undergone surgery | Companions of patients with cancer | Companions of patients who had undergone surgery | |
| Tinea of the foot | ||||
| Passive | 27 (52) | 20 (41) | 13 (34) | 11 (40) |
| Collaborative | 16 (31) | 17 (34) | 12 (32) | 8 (29) |
| Active | 9 (17) | 12 (25) | 13 (34) | 9 (32) |
| Gallstones | ||||
| Passive | 26 (48) | 18 (36) | 12 (32) | 7 (26) |
| Collaborative | 20 (37) | 19 (38) | 12 (32) | 10 (37) |
| Active | 8 (15) | 13 (26) | 14 (37) | 10 (37) |
| Laryngeal cancer | ||||
| Passive | 26 (50) | 20 (44) | 11 (30) | 9 (35) |
| Collaborative | 17 (33) | 17 (37) | 14 (38) | 11 (42) |
| Active | 9 (17) | 9 (20) | 12 (32) | 6 (23) |
| Skin cancer | ||||
| Passive | 26 (51) | 20 (42) | 15 (40) | 10 (37) |
| Collaborative | 18 (35) | 21 (44) | 13 (34) | 10 (37) |
| Active | 7 (14) | 7 (15) | 10 (26) | 7 (26) |
| *p = 0.03 for overall association between decision-making role and group, combining the information from the 4 vignettes in a repeated measures analysis of variance (using the 5 response categories from Table 1).
†The number of responses, and hence the denominator, varies among vignettes. | ||||