Ulla Sofie Lønberg and Helle Hartnack on Bias: How behavioral trials can transform access to treatment

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“It is always fun to have some data that makes you go Wow! I didn’t know this!” 
We speak to Ulla Sofie Lønberg and Helle Hartnack about whether men are risk takers and women reluctant to experiment with health technology, and if the only difference between the male and female physiology really is the ability to bear children.

We discuss the findings in a recent registry study about gender imbalance in the use of device-aided therapies. Unconscious bias may be at play for both patients, carers and physicians when selecting treatment, but also the roles that men and women typically play in society. 

We speak about how tailoring communication might make a difference, but also the need for behavioral clinical research. Adding the behavioral element to clinical research may just be the missing link in true patient centricity. 

We also speak about how mapping the non-patient journey may help understand the biases that exist in the system and how daring to differentiate your communication to patient groups may make it easier for the patients to make decisions about treatment.  

“I found that when we discussed these findings with people, we tend to get the same kind of comments. Either that men are risk-takers or men are tech-oriented and women are not. But what we discussed in this publication is that there’s actually very little data to support this notion. And if it is true that men are risk takers and women are not, should we just accept that?”

• Ulla Sofie Lønberg

Notes

• Guest Ulla Sofie Lønberg : https://www.linkedin.com/in/mdullasofielonberg/ 
• Guest Helle Hartnack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helle-hartnack-0345352/ 
• Publication we speak about: Henriksen T, Dalhoff KP, Hansen HE, Brenneche AW, Lønberg US, Danielsen EH. Access and Use of Device-Aided Therapies for Parkinson’s Disease in Denmark. Mov Disord Clin Pract. 2020 Jul 2;7(6):656-663. doi: 10.1002/mdc3.12988.
• Invisible women: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41104077-invisible-women
• Device-aided therapies and Parkinson’s disease  

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