Disease cause attribution and preference for low versus high self-management treatments

Abstract We investigate how disease cause attribution influences preferences for treatments that vary in patients’ self-management by comparing the attribution of disease cause to lifestyle and attribution to genes. We demonstrate that individuals’ self-control trait is a critical moderating factor...

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Main Authors: Tom Joonhwan Kim, Jaehwan Kim
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-07-01
Series:Scientific Reports
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-11710-7
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author Tom Joonhwan Kim
Jaehwan Kim
author_facet Tom Joonhwan Kim
Jaehwan Kim
author_sort Tom Joonhwan Kim
collection DOAJ
description Abstract We investigate how disease cause attribution influences preferences for treatments that vary in patients’ self-management by comparing the attribution of disease cause to lifestyle and attribution to genes. We demonstrate that individuals’ self-control trait is a critical moderating factor in deciding preference between treatments in response to the disease cause information. Individuals with low self-control traits had a stronger tendency to prefer a treatment that requires a low level of self-management when they attributed the disease cause to genes than when they attributed it to their lifestyle. However, the preference for treatments of individuals with high self-control traits was not influenced by the disease-cause attribution. We suggest medical practitioners consider how disease attribution can influence preference for available treatment options when communicating with their patients.
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spelling doaj-art-8e28a4ec85a644848030c68a8a7b8a6b2025-08-20T03:45:52ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-07-0115111110.1038/s41598-025-11710-7Disease cause attribution and preference for low versus high self-management treatmentsTom Joonhwan Kim0Jaehwan Kim1Yonsei University Mirae CampusDepartment of Dermatology, University of California DavisAbstract We investigate how disease cause attribution influences preferences for treatments that vary in patients’ self-management by comparing the attribution of disease cause to lifestyle and attribution to genes. We demonstrate that individuals’ self-control trait is a critical moderating factor in deciding preference between treatments in response to the disease cause information. Individuals with low self-control traits had a stronger tendency to prefer a treatment that requires a low level of self-management when they attributed the disease cause to genes than when they attributed it to their lifestyle. However, the preference for treatments of individuals with high self-control traits was not influenced by the disease-cause attribution. We suggest medical practitioners consider how disease attribution can influence preference for available treatment options when communicating with their patients.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-11710-7Medical decision-makingGenetic attributionTreatment preferenceSelf-control
spellingShingle Tom Joonhwan Kim
Jaehwan Kim
Disease cause attribution and preference for low versus high self-management treatments
Scientific Reports
Medical decision-making
Genetic attribution
Treatment preference
Self-control
title Disease cause attribution and preference for low versus high self-management treatments
title_full Disease cause attribution and preference for low versus high self-management treatments
title_fullStr Disease cause attribution and preference for low versus high self-management treatments
title_full_unstemmed Disease cause attribution and preference for low versus high self-management treatments
title_short Disease cause attribution and preference for low versus high self-management treatments
title_sort disease cause attribution and preference for low versus high self management treatments
topic Medical decision-making
Genetic attribution
Treatment preference
Self-control
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-11710-7
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