Physicians' attitudes to disability pension - impact of diagnosis: an experimental study

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study is to increase understanding of physicians' attitudes towards disability pension applicants, and the impact of diagnosis. We hypothesize that physicians are more likely to think that patients with physical illnesses should get a disability pension than those with mental illness or alcohol dependence. Disability pension is an important source of income for those unable to work because of a disability and type of diagnosis should not impact accessing these benefits. METHODS: We conducted an experiment with a 2 by 3 factorial structure in Sweden. Each physician was randomly assigned one of six patient vignettes, with the same background description but with..