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Distrusting doctors' evidence: a qualitative study of disability income support policy makers in Australia and Ontario, Canada.
- Source :
- Australian Health Review; 2018, Vol. 42 Issue 4, p475-480, 6p
- Publication Year :
- 2018
-
Abstract
- Objective. The aim of the present study was to describe how policy makers (bureaucrats and politicians) in Australia and Ontario (Canada) perceive evidence provided by doctors to substantiate applications for disability income support (DIS) by their patients with mental illnesses. Because many mental illnesses (e.g. depression) lack diagnostic tests, their existence and effects are more difficult to demonstrate than most somatic illnesses. Methods. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 45 informants, all influential in the design of the assessment of DIS programs. The informants were subcategorised into advocates, legal representatives, doctors (general practitioners (GPs) and specialists (e.g. psychiatrists)), policy insiders and researchers. Informants were found through snowball sampling. Following the principles of grounded theory, data collection and analysis occurred in tandem. Results. Informants expressed some scepticism about doctors' evidence. Informants perceived that doctors could, due to lack of diagnostic certainty, 'write these things [evidence] however [they] want to'. Psychiatrists, perceived as having more time and skills, were considered as providing more trustworthy evidence than GPs. Conclusion. Doctors, providing evidence to support applications, play an important role in determining disability. However, policy makers perceive doctors' evidence about mental illnesses as less trustworthy than evidence about somatic illnesses. This affects decisions by government adjudicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- COMPARATIVE studies
GROUNDED theory
INCOME
INTERVIEWING
RESEARCH methodology
PHYSICIANS
GENERAL practitioners
POLICY sciences
PSYCHIATRISTS
PSYCHOTHERAPY patients
STATISTICAL sampling
EVIDENCE-based medicine
QUALITATIVE research
PROFESSIONAL practice
DATA analysis
OCCUPATIONAL roles
ATTITUDES toward mental illness
DESCRIPTIVE statistics
ATTITUDES toward disabilities
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 01565788
- Volume :
- 42
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Australian Health Review
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 131090152
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1071/AH16092