Designing Effective Health Education for Patients Seeking Unregulated Stem Cell Interventions

项目摘要/摘要 美国有1,000多家诊所在营销科学上未经证实的干细胞干预(SCI) 不受联邦监管和监督。不受监管的SCI对患者的一个主要风险是 被误导了。这导致数以万计的患者服用无规则的脊髓损伤，导致身体， 经济和情感上的伤害。我们患有慢性病的老龄化人口是干细胞的主要靶点 商业广告。他们代表了一群独特的健康消费者，他们已经耗尽了传统医疗 选择，希望控制自己的医疗保健，并积极在互联网上为非 常规治疗。几项研究表明，诊所积极推销不准确或虚假的产品。 向患者传递的信息是有益的、尖端的、安全有效的。到目前为止，它 不清楚患者认为哪些健康信息来源是可信的，或者患者如何区分 相反的信息，如广告和警告。这一系列研究的总体目标是 这一新的健康消费者群体正在寻找替代选择，以推动明智的决策 慢性疾病。本研究的主要目的是探索患者对以下疾病的知识和信念 不受监管的SCI，他们对在线健康信息的可信度的看法，以及他们对 网络广告和警示信息的可信度和说服力。我们将应用以下结果 这项形成性研究，受到健康行为和行为变化理论的启发，以开发新的 向患者灌输错误信息或纠正对不受监管的SCI的误解的信息 提供有关干细胞程序的循证信息。我们的三个具体目标是 在以下情况下描述患者的知识、信念、在线信息搜索习惯和社交网络 考虑不受监管的SCI(目标1)；探索患者对来源可信度的看法(专家与 像我这样的人)以及基于视频和文字的广告和关于SCI的警告的说服力(目标2)； 并开发和预先测试试点通信干预措施，以使患者免受错误信息和 纠正对不受监管的SCI的误解(目标3)。我们将使用质的研究方法来解决 这三个目标都是从一个独特的患者数据库中招募潜在的参与者，这些患者都有打电话给 再生性咨询服务，以了解更多有关SCI的情况。我们的工作特别是 创新性，因为它将健康行为和社会心理学的理论与患者感知数据相结合，以 告知通信干预措施的设计，以打击错误信息。在完成这项探索之后 研究，我们将能够制作突出和可信的在线信息来解决未满足的问题 这一健康消费者群体的信息需求，并帮助解决全球健康问题 不受监管的干细胞和再生干预。

Project Summary/Abstract There are over 1,000 clinics in the U.S. marketing scientifically unsubstantiated stem cell interventions (SCIs) outside federal regulation and oversight. One major risk to patients from unregulated SCIs is the harm of being misinformed. This has led tens of thousands of patients to take an unregulated SCI resulting in physical, financial, and emotional harm. Our aging population with chronic diseases is the main target of stem cell commercials. They represent a unique group of health consumers who have exhausted conventional medical options, have a desire to control their healthcare, and are actively seeking information on the internet for non- conventional treatments. Several studies have shown that clinics aggressively market inaccurate or false information to patients where SCIs are conveyed as beneficial, cutting-edge, and safe and effective. To date, it is unclear what sources of health information patients consider credible or how patients differentiate between opposing messages such as an advertisement versus a warning. The overall goal of this line of research is to advance informed decision-making by this new group of health consumers searching alternative options for chronic conditions. The primary purpose of this study is to explore patients’ knowledge and beliefs regarding unregulated SCIs, their views on the credibility of online health information, and their perceptions on the credibility and persuasiveness of online advertisements and warning messages. We will apply the results of this formative research, informed by theories of health behavior and behavior change, to develop novel messages to inoculate patients from misinformation or correct misconceptions about unregulated SCIs along with providing evidence-based information about stem cell procedures. Our three specific aims are to characterize patient knowledge, beliefs, online information seeking habits, and social networks when considering unregulated SCIs (Aim 1); explore patients’ perceptions of source credibility (expert versus a person like me) and persuasiveness of video and text-based advertisements and warnings about SCIs (Aim 2); and develop and pre-test a pilot communication intervention to inoculate patients from misinformation and correct misconceptions about unregulated SCIs (Aim 3). We will use qualitative research methods to address all three aims and recruit potential participants from a unique database of patients who have called into a regenerative consultation service to find out more about SCIs for their condition. Our work is particularly innovative as it combines theories of health behavior and social psychology with patient perception data to inform the design of communication interventions to combat misinformation. Upon completing this exploratory research, we will be able to craft online messages that are salient and credible to address the unmet informational needs of this group of health consumers and help address the global health problem of unregulated stem cell and regenerative interventions.