title: Exploring laypeople's epistemic beliefs about medicine - a factor-analytic survey study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of this study was to develop an instrument to measure laypeople's beliefs about the nature of medical knowledge and knowing (the EBAM). Such beliefs should be a target of increased research interest because they influence how people handle medical information, for example in shared decision making.
  
  
  METHODS
  An online survey was completed by 284 participants. Items assessed different aspects of laypeople's epistemic beliefs about medicine and explicitly focused on the appearance of medical knowledge in everyday life and the evaluation of different sources as a way to justify knowledge.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Factor analysis yielded a five-factor solution for the instrument. Dimensions covered by the instrument are certainty of medical knowledge, credibility of medical textbooks, credibility of medical information on the Internet, justification of medical knowledge, and preliminarity of medical knowledge.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results indicate that laypeople have meaningful beliefs about the nature of medical knowledge and the trustworthiness of different sources. The instrument developed seems promising for measuring laypeople's epistemic beliefs about medicine, which may help to increase patients' compliance in medical decision making.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Muenster, Fliednerstrasse 21, Muenster, 49149, Germany. kienhues@uni-muenster.de
authors.forename: Dorothe
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kienhues
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bromme
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008511:Medicine; D011639:Public Opinion; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult