title: Patients and medical statistics. Interest, confidence, and ability.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  People are increasingly presented with medical statistics. There are no existing measures to assess their level of interest or confidence in using medical statistics.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To develop 2 new measures, the STAT-interest and STAT-confidence scales, and assess their reliability and validity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Survey with retest after approximately 2 weeks.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred and twenty-four people were recruited from advertisements in local newspapers, an outpatient clinic waiting area, and a hospital open house.
  
  
  METHODS
  We developed and revised 5 items on interest in medical statistics and 3 on confidence understanding statistics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Study participants were mostly college graduates (52%); 25% had a high school education or less. The mean age was 53 (range 20 to 84) years. Most paid attention to medical statistics (6% paid no attention). The mean (SD) STAT-interest score was 68 (17) and ranged from 15 to 100. Confidence in using statistics was also high: the mean (SD) STAT-confidence score was 65 (19) and ranged from 11 to 100. STAT-interest and STAT-confidence scores were moderately correlated (r=.36, P<.001). Both scales demonstrated good test-retest repeatability (r=.60, .62, respectively), internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's alpha=0.70 and 0.78), and usability (individual item nonresponse ranged from 0% to 1.3%). Scale scores correlated only weakly with scores on a medical data interpretation test (r=.15 and .26, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The STAT-interest and STAT-confidence scales are usable and reliable. Interest and confidence were only weakly related to the ability to actually use data.
authors.affiliation: The VA Outcomes Group (111B), Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, White River Junction, Vt 05009, USA. steven.woloshin@dartmouth.edu
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Woloshin
authors.forename: Lisa M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Schwartz
authors.forename: H Gilbert
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Welch
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013223:Statistics as Topic