The communication of risk in dental settings is a routine task that most clinicians are familiar with in their clinical encounters.
However, work from medical settings has suggested that using this process in order to support health behaviour change in people may well be undermined by difficulties in understanding risk information, in presenting the information in a way that is clearly understood by the recipient and in the effects that such information may have for supporting further health behaviours by patients.
This paper synthesises literature in the area that addresses these issues and explores approaches dental care professionals might consider when communicating risks in the dental surgery.
WHAT IS RISK? COGNITIVE AND EMOTIONAL IMPACTS OF RISK COMMUNICATION
Risk is a concept that most people feel familiar with yet few are in a position to estimate accurately or make decisions on the basis of it. Risk may be defined as the probability that a hazard will give rise to harm; in healthcare settings, in particular, risk is conceptualised as a possibility of loss, injury, disease, or death (www.merriam-webster.com/medical/risk).
K. Asimakopoulou, G. Rhodes and B. Daly
BRITISH DENTAL JOURNAL 2016
