TY  - JOUR
AU  - Jungermann, Helmut
AU  - Schütz, Holger
AU  - Thüring, Manfred
TI  - Mental models in risk assessment: Informing people about drugs
JO  - Risk analysis
VL  - 8
IS  - 1
SN  - 1539-6924
CY  - Oxford [u.a.]
PB  - Wiley-Blackwell
M1  - FZJ-2018-01904
SP  - 147 - 155
PY  - 1988
AB  - One way to communicate about the risks of drugs is through the use of package inserts. The problems associated with this medium of informing patients have been investigated by several researchers who found that people require information about drugs they are using, including extensive risk information, and that they are willing to take this information into account in their usage of drugs. But empirical results also show that people easily misinterpret the information given. A conceptual framework is proposed that might be used for better understanding the cognitive processes involved in such a type of risk assessment and communication. It is based on the idea that people develop, through experience, a mental model of how a drug works, which effects it might produce, that contraindications have to be considered, etc. This mental model is “run” when a specific package insert has been read and a specific question arises such as, for example, whether certain symptoms can be explained as normal or whether they require special attention and action. We argue that the mental model approach offers a useful perspective for examining how people understand package inserts, and consequently for improving their content and design. The approach promises to be equally useful for other aspects of risk analysis that are dependent upon human judgment and decision making, e.g., threat diagnosis and human reliability analysis.
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - pmid:3375502
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:A1988N161900018
DO  - DOI:10.1111/j.1539-6924.1988.tb01161.x
UR  - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/844494
ER  -