Awkward topic to discuss with patients? Try acting like a robot

A University of British Columbia study of how people purchase and talk about potentially “embarrassing products”—think condoms, tampons or adult diapers—yielded a key lesson that could be helpful for healthcare providers: Act like a robot and you might get more information from the person in front of you. That’s what the researchers concluded after they hired an actor to approach people on the street and ask them to fill out a survey about gum and condoms. “They asked a whole bunch of information about your habits with the product and the questions sort of get a little bit more personal, and obviously for condoms, more embarrassing,” explained JoAndrea Hoegg, who conducted the study along with Darren Dahl and researchers from China. “Questions like: ‘What size are you purchasing?’ and ‘What size of package?’ and ‘How often do you use these?’” During these surveys, the actor used two different approaches: friendly—with lots of eye contact and a lilting vocal cadence—and more robotic and impersonal. The latter delivery, the researchers found, yielded more information from respondents about their purchase and use of condoms, according to an article published in Vancouver is Awesome. Read: With stained pants, Kenyan senator fights menstruation taboo Hoegg said the results from this exercise could be useful in training healthcare professionals, such as doctors and pharmacists, on how to act during potentially embarrassing situations. Being more robotic, for one, could help patients feel more comfortable sharing important—but perhaps awkward—medical information. But, added Hoegg, “all the things we tested weren't very serious. We weren't talking about major medical issues. I suspect—I don't know, we never tested it—but if it's something really serious, you may want a personal connection because maybe fear would be overriding embarrassment.” The on-the-street survey was one of three components of the study. In the initial component, the researchers compared self-checkout and full-service sales data of customers purchasing daily items like detergent and gum against data of customers who bought condoms and menstrual products. Most people buying the “embarrassing products” opted for self-checkout, said Hoegg. In the second part of the study, the researchers hired a survey company to poll people across North America and Europe. The respondents, which included people from a range or ages and income levels, were asked to choose from two laundry services to remove pant stains either from coffee or from incontinence. Read: Why are teen girls in crisis? It's not just social media One laundry service was characterized as having friendly customer service while the other was equally competent but workers focused more on just getting the job done. “What we find is when it's incontinence stain, and it's embarrassing, they're choosing the more robotic service provider,” said Hoegg. Hoegg said the trends tended to repeat across multiple cultures, but that more work is needed to be done to investigate how people react to some of the most serious interactions. Read: Seriously, this isn't fake news: Penis grown on man's arm is now in the right spot

Awkward topic to discuss with patients? Try acting like a robot

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