Assessing trust with injected health information in Poland’s healthcare system: Lay people versus healthcare workers

Abstract

Health information can influence patient trust and is vital to the healthcare system of a country. This study comparatively assesses trust levels within Poland’s healthcare system from two perspectives: non-healthcare workers (i.e. lay people) and healthcare workers. Four trust indicators, i.e. the payer, visiting or consulting with a physician, the medical profession, and hospitals are used to test trust volatility. The methodology combined a participant three-stage experiment by measuring level of trust, randomly separating participants into two groups – i.e. control and experimental – and testing whether observational changes were long-lasting. Results indicate that the level of trust of non-healthcare workers to the payer, a physician, and hospitals was susceptible to the information provided, while trust to the medical profession did not show sensitivity and almost did not change. Statistical analysis showed the non-healthcare workers trust level in all tested objects, apart from the medical profession, tended to return to their start values. Healthcare workers, on the other hand, had an overall higher level of trust in a physician, the medical profession, and hospitals. Overall, it can be concluded that the impact from the intervention in terms of hospitals was lower for the healthcare workers.

KEYWORDS:

• Trust volatility
• healthcare performance
• mass media
• healthcare professionals
• comparative statistics

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Institute of Management and Quality Science at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Hauge School of Management at NLA University College in Bergen, and Faculty of Economics at the University of Gdansk for supporting this work. We are also thankful to the participants who partook in the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Availability of data and material

The data for this study is available at the repository Figshare with a dedicated DOI address: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19153127

Author contributions – Credit policy

Roman Lewandowski: Conceptualization (equal); Data Curation (lead); Formal Analysis (equal); Investigation (equal); Methodology (lead); Resources (lead); Software (lead); Validation (equal); Visualization (equal); Writing – Original Draft Preparation (equal); Writing – Review & Editing (equal).

Anatoliy G. Goncharuk: Conceptualisation (lead); Data Curation (equal); Formal Analysis (equal); Resources (equal); Visualization (equal); Writing – Original Draft Preparation (lead).

Giuseppe T. Cirella: Data Curation (equal); Formal Analysis (lead); Investigation (lead); Methodology (equal); Project Administration (lead); Software (equal); Supervision (lead); Validation (lead); Visualization (lead); Writing – Review & Editing (lead).

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The Ethical Committee at the University of Gdansk has approved this study complies with the ethics of scientific research described in the Ethical Principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and other applicable ethical principles and legislation in Poland and the European Union.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Roman Lewandowski

Roman A. Lewandowski, PhD is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Economics of the Warmia and Masuria University in Olsztyn and the director of Children Hospital in Poland. His publications focus on healthcare, including trust and hospital management.

Anatoliy G. Goncharuk

Anatoliy A. Goncharuk, PhD, Doctor of Economics is Professor at the Hauge School of Management, NLA University College (Norway). He has published extensively on performance measurement and management, motivation, job satisfaction, and trust studies.

Giuseppe T. Cirella

Giuseppe T. Cirella, PhD, Doctor of Habilitation in Economics and Finance, is Professor at the Faculty of Economics, University of Gdansk (Poland). His research focus is human geography (health and economics), sustainability, development studies, and the environment.