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. 2023 Oct 20;13(1):17938.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-45172-6.

Understanding public perceptions toward sustainable healthcare through psychological network analysis of material preference and attitudes toward plastic medical devices

Monique Chambon  1   2 , Janneke E Elberse  3 , Jonas Dalege  4 , Nick R M Beijer  3 , Frenk van Harreveld  3   5
Affiliations

Understanding public perceptions toward sustainable healthcare through psychological network analysis of material preference and attitudes toward plastic medical devices

Monique Chambon et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Recent and potential future health-care users (i.e., the public) are important stakeholders in the transition toward environmentally sustainable healthcare. However, it remains unclear whether, according to the public, there is room for sustainable innovations in materials for plastic medical devices (PMD). This study explores preferences regarding conventional or bio-based PMD, and psychological mechanisms underlying these preferences. We administered two surveys among Dutch adults from a research panel. Results from the first survey (i.e., open-text survey on attitude elements; NStudy1 = 66) served as input for the second survey (i.e., Likert-scale survey on beliefs, emotions, perceived control, social norms, trust, related to current and bio-based PMD, and health and age; NStudy2 = 1001; Mage = 47.35; 54.4% female). The second survey was completed by 501 participants who, in the last two years, received care in which PMD were used, and 500 participants who did not. Cross-sectional psychological networks were estimated with data from the second study using the EBICglasso method. Results showed that participants preferred bio-based over conventional PMD, and this applied regardless of whether devices are used inside or outside of the body. Results also showed emotions play an important role, with emotions regarding bio-based PMD being strongly related to preference. Furthermore, comparing recent and potential future receivers of PMD revealed differences in preference but comparable relations between preference and other psychological variables. This study shows that receivers' perspectives should not be seen as potential barriers, but as additional motivation for transitioning toward sustainable healthcare. Recommendations for implementation are discussed.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Survey flow and elements. *Answers determined allocation to relevance subsamples (or exclusion from survey; see appendix 1.2 for more information). The rest of the survey was identical for both subsamples.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) Network of psychological variables related to plastic medical devices for the total sample. Nodes represent variables (C_ = related to current PMD, B_ = related to bio-based PMD) and edges represent relations between them (i.e., partial correlations), with blue edges for positive and red edges for negative relations. A positive (negative) relation indicates that people who reported, on average, a higher score on one variable also reported, on average, a higher (lower) score on the other variable, and vice versa. Strength of the relations is indicated by edge width and color density (see Table 4 for corresponding edge weights); (b) Node statistic Strength, which represents how connected a node is to the rest of the network (calculated as the sum of a node’s absolute edge weights).
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