DOI

https://doi.org/10.25772/E045-CT07

Defense Date

2017

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Jared Keeley

Second Advisor

Paul Perrin

Third Advisor

Kia Bentley

Abstract

Significant research efforts have focused on examining the effect of patient factors on providing diagnoses across clinical settings; however, the influence of clinician demographics have received less attention. This study aimed to understand the impact of nonclinical factors such as clinician characteristics and response time on diagnostic accuracy. The study used data from a WHO field study of the ICD-11 development (n = 1822) that required clinicians to diagnose two case vignettes. Clinicians’ slower response times had a significant positive impact on their rates of diagnostic accuracy. However, there was no evidence that clinicians’ demographic features were directly related to their diagnostic accuracy. Rather, clinicians’ age, years of experience, world region, and their clinical profession indirectly predicted accuracy through their overall response time. Contradictory to decision-making theories, older clinicians and clinicians with more years of experience had higher rates of diagnostic accuracy when they spent more time completing the study. Additionally, clinicians in South America with slower response times had higher accuracy compared to clinicians in North America. Clinicians in Asia had faster response times that negatively impacted their accuracy rates compared to North America clinicians. These findings suggest differences in response time and the applicability of the ICD-11 across cultures. Consistent with previous research, medical professionals with quicker response times had the lowest rates of accuracy compared to psychologists and other clinical professionals. These findings highlight the need for researchers and clinicians to consider the role their dispositional features have in the diagnostic process. Moreover, it is crucial that future research into diagnostic decision-making and accuracy should consider additional mediating factors such as response style, culture, and experience.

Rights

© The Author

Is Part Of

VCU University Archives

Is Part Of

VCU Theses and Dissertations

Date of Submission

11-23-2017

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