The influence of locus of control on preferences for information and decision making

Abstract

Previous studies reported inconsistent relationship between the preference for information and that for decisional autonomy in medical encounters. We hypothesized that the relationship may be dependent on people's attribution beliefs on health. To test the hypothesis, demographically representative sample of Japanese population over the age of 18 (N = 3395) were invited into self-administered questionnaire survey. Preferences for information and decisional autonomy were measured by a translated version of autonomy preference index. Health attribution was measured by a scale modified from multi-dimensional health locus of control scales. After adjusting for socio-economic status, multivariable linear regression analysis revealed that information preference was positively associated with decisional preference among individuals who believed their health is less dependent on influential others. However, the reversed relationship was observed in case of individuals with attribution to others. The results suggested that individuals may use medical information for different purposes according to the types of health-related attribution beliefs.