Investigating Implicit Bias in Referrals to Psychological Therapies in Mental Health Services: Review and Recommendations

This dataset supports a project examining the biases that may influence healthcare professionals when referring patients to community psychological therapies. Biases, whether conscious or unconscious, can shape how patient information is perceived and interpreted, potentially leading to unequal access to necessary mental health support. This review explores the different ways such biases may emerge and impact decisions about which patients receive referrals for psychological therapies.The dataset consists of three parts: 1. Types of Biases: The “Concepts” sheet defines various biases, such as fundamental attribution error and confirmation bias, that may subtly or overtly impact healthcare professionals’ decisions. These definitions serve as a foundation to understand how biases might play a role in referral practices. 2. Research Studies: The “Selected Papers” sheet provides a list of research studies that have explored bias in healthcare settings. Each entry includes information about the study, the type of bias investigated, and its effects on patient outcomes. This information covers various demographics and healthcare settings, offering insights into how and where biases affect referral processes. 3. Search Methodology: The “Search Strategy” sheet outlines the databases and methods used to gather studies for this project, including searches in EMBASE and OVID. This strategy ensures a thorough collection of relevant literature for a more complete analysis.

本数据集旨在支持一项研究项目，该研究项目探讨可能影响医疗专业人员向社区心理治疗推荐患者的偏见。无论是意识到的还是无意识的偏见，都可能塑造对病人信息的感知与解读，进而可能导致对必要心理健康支持的获取不平等。本研究回顾了此类偏见可能出现的不同方式及其对接受心理治疗推荐决策的影响。该数据集包含三个部分：1. 偏见类型：“概念”表定义了各种偏见，例如基本归因错误和确认偏差，这些偏见可能微妙或明显地影响医疗专业人员的决策。这些定义构成了理解偏见如何在推荐实践中发挥作用的基石。2. 研究文献：“精选论文”表提供了一列研究文献，这些文献探讨了医疗环境中的偏见。每项条目都包含了关于研究、所调查的偏见类型及其对病人结果的影响的信息。这些信息涵盖了各种人口统计学和医疗环境，为偏见如何以及在哪里影响推荐过程提供了见解。3. 搜索方法：“搜索策略”表概述了用于收集该项目研究文献的数据库和方法，包括在EMBASE和OVID中进行搜索。此策略确保了收集相关文献的全面性，以实现更完整的分析。