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The effects of the cognitive bias of unrealistic optimism in the adoption of preventive measures against COVID-19 in dentistry

INTRODUCTION: The bias of unrealistic optimism is people’s tendency to believe that they are less likely to experience negative events than others. Dental professionals are part of a high-risk group for COVID-19. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study is to investigate whether unrealistic optimism...

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Autores principales: Pivovar, Allana, Semprebon, Elder, Perdoncini, Nicole Nichele, Corelhano, Amanda Rossi, Torres-Pereira, Cassius Carvalho
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Associação Nacional de Medicina do Trabalho (ANAMT) 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9444221/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36118059
http://dx.doi.org/10.47626/1679-4435-2022-834
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author Pivovar, Allana
Semprebon, Elder
Perdoncini, Nicole Nichele
Corelhano, Amanda Rossi
Torres-Pereira, Cassius Carvalho
author_facet Pivovar, Allana
Semprebon, Elder
Perdoncini, Nicole Nichele
Corelhano, Amanda Rossi
Torres-Pereira, Cassius Carvalho
author_sort Pivovar, Allana
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: The bias of unrealistic optimism is people’s tendency to believe that they are less likely to experience negative events than others. Dental professionals are part of a high-risk group for COVID-19. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study is to investigate whether unrealistic optimism bias, concern, and regret can affect the adoption of preventive measures by these professionals. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional observational study of dentists recruited remotely by using an electronic form sent by email and social media. A five-point scale was used to identify whether unrealistic optimism, concern, and regret affected the adoption of preventive measures. The study included a total of 339 dentists. The group considered to be unrealistically optimistic accounted for 24.8% of the sample. RESULTS: Unrealistic optimism negatively affected the use of protective equipment by dental professionals. Conversely, concern positively affected preventive measures. CONCLUSIONS: Although most dentists are realistic about the risk of infection compared with their peers, those with optimistic bias might be more susceptible to the disease, as they tend not to adopt recommended protective measures in the workplace. Future studies should also investigate ways of debiasing.
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spelling pubmed-94442212022-09-16 The effects of the cognitive bias of unrealistic optimism in the adoption of preventive measures against COVID-19 in dentistry Pivovar, Allana Semprebon, Elder Perdoncini, Nicole Nichele Corelhano, Amanda Rossi Torres-Pereira, Cassius Carvalho Rev Bras Med Trab Original Article INTRODUCTION: The bias of unrealistic optimism is people’s tendency to believe that they are less likely to experience negative events than others. Dental professionals are part of a high-risk group for COVID-19. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study is to investigate whether unrealistic optimism bias, concern, and regret can affect the adoption of preventive measures by these professionals. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional observational study of dentists recruited remotely by using an electronic form sent by email and social media. A five-point scale was used to identify whether unrealistic optimism, concern, and regret affected the adoption of preventive measures. The study included a total of 339 dentists. The group considered to be unrealistically optimistic accounted for 24.8% of the sample. RESULTS: Unrealistic optimism negatively affected the use of protective equipment by dental professionals. Conversely, concern positively affected preventive measures. CONCLUSIONS: Although most dentists are realistic about the risk of infection compared with their peers, those with optimistic bias might be more susceptible to the disease, as they tend not to adopt recommended protective measures in the workplace. Future studies should also investigate ways of debiasing. Associação Nacional de Medicina do Trabalho (ANAMT) 2022-03-30 /pmc/articles/PMC9444221/ /pubmed/36118059 http://dx.doi.org/10.47626/1679-4435-2022-834 Text en https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivative License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium provided the original work is properly cited and the work is not changed in any way.
spellingShingle Original Article
Pivovar, Allana
Semprebon, Elder
Perdoncini, Nicole Nichele
Corelhano, Amanda Rossi
Torres-Pereira, Cassius Carvalho
The effects of the cognitive bias of unrealistic optimism in the adoption of preventive measures against COVID-19 in dentistry
title The effects of the cognitive bias of unrealistic optimism in the adoption of preventive measures against COVID-19 in dentistry
title_full The effects of the cognitive bias of unrealistic optimism in the adoption of preventive measures against COVID-19 in dentistry
title_fullStr The effects of the cognitive bias of unrealistic optimism in the adoption of preventive measures against COVID-19 in dentistry
title_full_unstemmed The effects of the cognitive bias of unrealistic optimism in the adoption of preventive measures against COVID-19 in dentistry
title_short The effects of the cognitive bias of unrealistic optimism in the adoption of preventive measures against COVID-19 in dentistry
title_sort effects of the cognitive bias of unrealistic optimism in the adoption of preventive measures against covid-19 in dentistry
topic Original Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9444221/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36118059
http://dx.doi.org/10.47626/1679-4435-2022-834
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