ISOQOL 2004 Symposium
"Stating the Art: Advancing Outcomes Research Methodology and Clinical Applications"
June 27-29, 2004
Boston Park Plaza Hotel
Boston, MA, USA

Monday, June 28, 2004

10:45 am - 12:45 pm
Session 2: Cognitive Sciences and Health Outcomes Assessment
Presenters: Antonio L. Freitas and Eve Wittenberg
Chair: Andrew Lloyd
Proffered Papers: TBD

 

How Relations between Self-Regulatory Orientations and Strategic Actions Influence the Quality of Life as it Unfolds: A Theory of Regulatory Fit
Antonio L. Freitas, PhD
Dept. of Psychology State University of New York, Stoney Brook, NY

Along with people’s valuations of desired health outcomes, their valuations of their experiences as they work toward those outcomes impact substantially their motivation and persistence, thus influencing their likelihood of successful outcome realization. Understanding health-related quality of life, then, requires understanding the psychological processes that influence how people come to value and enjoy the health-related activities in which they engage. This talk will address these issues from the standpoint of “regulatory fit,” a conceptual model of the motivational implications of inter-relations between self-regulatory states and actions. The model suggests that the same action will be experienced differentially positively as a function of the degree to which its strategic inclination is concordant with one’s more general self-regulatory orientation. For example, people oriented toward accomplishment experience eagerness-related actions more favorably than vigilance-related actions, whereas people oriented toward responsibility experience vigilance-related actions more favorably than eagerness-related actions. Implications for improving health-related quality of life will be discussed.

Measuring Health Related Quality of Life: Does Prospect Theory Help?
Eve Wittenberg, PhD
MGH Institute for Technology Assessment, Boston, MA

Health related quality of life is measured with many metrics, including preference-based measures and utilities. This presentation will examine the basis of Cumulative Prospect Theory (CPT), a descriptive alternative to Expected Utilty Theory, proposed to explain individuals' preference for decisions made under uncertainty. It will discuss research exploring the application of CPT to decision making in health, and situations in which the theory may be useful.