TY  - JOUR
T1  - Patients Can Provide a Valid Assessment of Quality of Life, Functional Status, and General Health on the Day They Undergo Knee Surgery
AU  - Lack, Dorothea Z.
Y1  - 2008/08/01
N1  - 
JO  - The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery
SP  - 1783
EP  - 1783
VL  - 90
IS  - 8
N2  - 
I read with interest the article "Patients Can Provide a Valid Assessment of Quality of Life, Functional Status, and General Health on the Day They Undergo Knee Surgery" (2008;90:264-70), by Bryant et al. As a psychologist, it seems likely to me that the demand characteristics of the situation on the day of surgery would overwhelm a patient's judgment about quality of life, functional status, and general health. Demand characteristics include concern about the surgeon's opinion, wanting to please the surgeon, and wanting to be seen as a "good" patient. Factors like these have been demonstrated to influence responses and were first reported by Rosenthal as early as 19761.

SN  - 0021-9355
M3  - doi: 
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ER  -