Caregiver perceptions and attitudes associated with oral immunotherapy on social media

Background: Caregiver values and preferences with regard to oral immunotherapy (OIT) for treatment of food allergies are not widely reported. Understanding caregiver perspectives is integral to establishing shared decision-making in the treatment of food allergy. Objective: We aimed to understand caregiver opinions that may influence caregivers in their decisions about OIT through social media. Methods: We searched a popular parenting web site for posts related to OIT from December 2008 to September 2019. We applied a Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses framework to review posts for inclusion, performed thematic content analysis to determine common themes, and calculated frequencies for each theme and subtheme. Posts and comments were included if they contained discussions about OIT for immunoglobulin E‐mediated food allergy and were excluded if they were duplicates, comments from an original post from the original user, or comments on a nonrelevant original post. Results: Of 1300 posts and comments retrieved, 174 were included (13%). Most were excluded because they did not directly address OIT for food allergy. Relevant posts could fall into multiple themes and were categorized under three main themes: attitudes (n = 128, “I am scared to do OIT but scared not to!”), logistics (n = 168, “We will be doing this once LO [little one] is a little older”), and questions (n = 32, “How does it work?”). Conclusion: Caregivers communicate with each other through social media, expressing attitudes, logistics, and questions about OIT. Understanding these lay perspectives may help guide clinicians in counseling and engage caregivers in decision-making.

Lay perspectives of the open-label placebo rationale: a qualitative study of participants in an experimental trial

ObjectivesTo analyse participants’ concepts about the open-label placebo (OLP) effect; to explore their views about the discussion points that are applied in conventional OLP trials and to examine their experiences of taking part in an OLP trial.DesignA qualitative study using thematic analysis of semistructured interviews that were nested within a randomised controlled trial investigating experimental OLP analgesia (registered at ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02578420).Participants30 healthy adults who took part in the randomised controlled trial.ResultsParticipants mostly conceptualised placebo as something that is inert and requires deception in order to be effective. Interviewees used a broad definition of placebos, going beyond a conventional notion of sugar pills. In contrast to the conventional OLP rationale, participants seldom emphasised classical conditioning as a mechanism of placebo effects, stressing a variety of other well-established components through which placebos might be therapeutic, whereas the conventional OLP disclosures state that ‘a positive attitude helps but is not necessary’, participants in our study applied other attitudes, such as ‘it’s worth a try’. When asked about their experiences during the trial, the majority emphasised that the concept of OLP was completely novel to them. Participants were rather sceptical about the efficacy of the intervention.ConclusionIntegrating lay perspectives into the scientific rationale of OLP treatments might enhance the plausibility and credibility of the rationale in ethical treatments.Trial registration numberNCT02578420.

EXPRESS: Consumer Self-Control and the Biological Sciences: Implications for Marketing Stakeholders

The authors argue that appreciation of the biological underpinnings of human behavior can alter the beliefs and actions of multiple marketing stakeholders in ways that have immense welfare implications. However, a biological perspective often deviates from the lay perspective. The realization of improved welfare depends in part on narrowing this gap. The authors review biological evidence on self-control and report 10 empirical studies that examine lay response to biological characterizations of self-control. The authors contrast lay response with scientific understanding and then offer implications of biology—as well as the gap between the scientific and lay perspectives—for policymakers, firms, consumers, marketing educators, and scholars. The authors also identify opportunities for future research. The authors conclude that marketing scholars can and should play an active role in narrowing the gap between the scientific and lay perspectives in the service of both theory development and human welfare.

‘Science for social revolution’: People’s Science Movements and democratizing science in India

Often, new social movements engaged with science and society are characterised as contesting objectivity; the neutrality of modern science seeking to legitimise ‘lay perspectives’. It has been an article of faith among scholars to view third world movements as anti-science, anti-modernity and post-developmentalist. This commentary describes ideological framework, modes of action and organisation of the All India People’s Science Network (AIPSN), one of the People’s science movement (PSMs) active for more than the past four decades. They dispute the dominant development trajectory and science and technology-related policies for reinforcing the existing inequities. Nevertheless, they see ‘science’ as a powerful ally for realising their radical emancipatory vision of ‘science for social revolution’. Mobilising ‘science activists’ as unique alternate communicators, they strive for lay-expert collaboration. The canonical framing of third world social movements as postcolonial and anti-modern does not capture this unique case from India. Further studies are required to tease out such strands of social movements elsewhere.