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- Page navigation anchor for A brief response to Matheson and DuttonA brief response to Matheson and DuttonShow More
Matheson and Dutton are quite right about the technical details of game theory, and in particular about the necessity to define players, strategies and payoff functions rigorously in formal game-theoretic modelling. However, our original article was not an exercise in formal game-theoretic modelling. Rather, our intention was to draw on established findings from the field of behavioural game theory to frame our research...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Patient and doctor trust and knowledge of each other in on-going relationshipsPatient and doctor trust and knowledge of each other in on-going relationshipsShow More
Tarrant and colleagues[1] are to be commended for taking the slippery issue of trust and applying a theoretical model to better understand its relationship with patient-doctor continuity. Continuity of patient care is something that continues to define family practice internationally,[2] but evidence that it leads to improved patient outcomes is weak.[3] The literature emphasises the importance of interpersonal aspects...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Continuity, high stakes interactions, and mutual trustContinuity, high stakes interactions, and mutual trustShow More
Tarrant and colleagues make several excellent points re the relationship between repeated interactions and secure trust. I would like to expand on the implications of their work and offer additional support for their findings from work I have done with colleagues over the past 15 years.
It has been noted that the association between continuity, particularly the length of the relationship, and level of trust cou...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Game Theory and Trust: Untangling the Role of Repeated Interactions in Trust BuildingGame Theory and Trust: Untangling the Role of Repeated Interactions in Trust BuildingShow More
I read Tarrant, Dixon-Woods, Colman, and Stokes’ article with great interest. I applaud their creative use of game theory to illuminate aspects of trust development in physician-patient relationships. Game theory provides a useful yet surprisingly neglected framework for thinking about these issues. In particular, explicating the role repeated interactions play in the development of what Tarrant et al term secure trust...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Game theory can explain the value of continuity to scepticsGame theory can explain the value of continuity to scepticsShow More
I am delighted to see this paper. As the authors say on p 441, ‘A key problem is that empirical research into continuity of care has lacked an integrative theory’. I do agree with them that ‘game theory addresses this lacuna’! Governmental pressure in favour of institutional trust at the expense of trust in an individual clinician is widely prevalent. I have argued before in your pages that ‘quantitative measures merely...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for A Comment on Continuity and Trust in Primary Care: A Qualitative Study Informed by Game TheoryA Comment on Continuity and Trust in Primary Care: A Qualitative Study Informed by Game TheoryShow More
Tarrant et al. (2010) consider the effect of changes in the UK primary care system on the trust patients place in their general practitioners. Tarrant et al. report the results obtained from a series of interviews with patients in regards to the trust they have in their GPs, contrasting trust under single patient-physician interactions with trust under repeated patient-physician interactions. They conclude that in a single int...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Secure trust is vital for general practiceSecure trust is vital for general practiceShow More
Tarrant and colleagues have succeeded in adding an important piece to the difficult puzzle called trust. The finding that patients differentiate between institutional and secure trust, and will relate trust to future expectations of care is valuable.
A lot of quantitative data are in line with this qualitative work. Also our group has found a clear relationship between continuity and trust previously,(1) a...
Competing Interests: None declared.