Prospective Observational Study on the Prevalence and Diagnostic Value of General Practitioners' Gut Feelings for Cancer and Serious Diseases. Journal of general internal medicine BACKGROUND:General practitioners (GPs) have recognized the presence of gut feelings in their diagnostic process. However, little is known about the frequency or determinants of gut feelings or the diagnostic value of gut feelings for cancer and other serious diseases. OBJECTIVE:To assess the prevalence of gut feelings in general practice, examine their determinants and impact on patient management, and measure their diagnostic value for cancer and other serious diseases. DESIGN:This prospective observational study was performed using the Gut Feelings Questionnaire (GFQ). PARTICIPANTS:Participants included 155 GPs and 1487 of their patients, from four Spanish provinces. MAIN MEASURES:Sociodemographic data from patients and GPs; the reasoning style of GPs; the characteristics of the consultation; the presence and kind of gut feeling; the patient's subsequent contacts with the health system; and new cancer and serious disease diagnoses reported at 2 and 6 months post-consultation. KEY RESULTS:GPs experienced a gut feeling during 97% of the consultations: a sense of reassurance in 75% of consultations and a sense of alarm in 22% of consultations. A sense of alarm was felt at higher frequency given an older patient, the presence of at least one cancer-associated symptom, or a non-urban setting. GPs took diagnostic action more frequently after a sense of alarm. After 2 months, the sense of alarm had a sensitivity of 59% for cancer and other serious diseases (95% CI 47-71), a specificity of 79% (95% CI 77-82), a positive predictive value of 12% (95% CI 9-16), and a negative predictive value of 98% (95% CI 86-98). CONCLUSIONS:Gut feelings are consistently present in primary care medicine, and they play a substantial role in a GP's clinical reasoning and timely diagnosis of serious disease. The sense of alarm must be taken seriously and used to support diagnostic evaluation in patients with a new reason for encounter. 10.1007/s11606-021-07352-w

The linguistic validation of the gut feelings questionnaire in three European languages. Barais Marie,Hauswaldt Johannes,Hausmann Daniel,Czachowski Slawomir,Sowinska Agnieszka,Van Royen Paul,Stolper Erik BMC family practice BACKGROUND:Physicians' clinical decision-making may be influenced by non-analytical thinking, especially when perceiving uncertainty. Incidental gut feelings in general practice have been described, namely, as "a sense of alarm" and "a sense of reassurance". A Dutch Gut Feelings Questionnaire (GFQ) was developed, validated and afterwards translated into English following a linguistic validation procedure. The aims were to translate the GFQ from English into French, German and Polish; to describe uniform elements as well as differences and difficulties in the linguistic validation processes; to propose a procedural scheme for future GFQ translations into other languages. METHODS:We followed a structured, similar and equivalent procedure. Forward and backward-translations, repeated consensus procedures and cultural validations performed in six steps. Exchanges between the several research teams, the authors of the Dutch GFQ, and the translators involved continued throughout the procedure. RESULTS:12 translators, 52 GPs and 8 researchers in the field participated to the study in France, Germany, Switzerland and Poland. The collaborating research teams created three versions of the 10-item GFQ. Each research team found and agreed on compromises between comparability and similarity on one hand, and linguistic and cultural specificities on the other. CONCLUSIONS:The gut feeling questionnaire is now available in five European languages: Dutch, English, French, German and Polish. The uniform procedural validation scheme presented, and agreed upon by the teams, can be used for the translation of the GFQ into other languages. Comparing results of research into the predictive value of gut feelings and into the significance of the main determinants in five European countries is now possible. 10.1186/s12875-017-0626-0

The linguistic validation of the gut feelings questionnaire in Turkish. The European journal of general practice BACKGROUND:'Gut feelings' are frequently used by general practitioners in the clinical decision-making process, especially in situations of uncertainty. The Gut Feelings Questionnaire (GFQ) has been developed in the Netherlands and is now available in English, French, German, Polish, Spanish, and Catalan, enabling cross-border studies on the subject. However, a Turkish version of the GFQ is lacking. OBJECTIVES:A Turkish version of the GFQ. METHODS:A linguistic validation procedure was conducted, which took place in six phases: forward translation (step 1), backward translation (step 2), first consensus (step 3), cultural validation (step 4), second consensus (step 5), and final version (step 6). RESULTS:The absence of literal equivalent of the term 'gut feelings' in Turkish was determined. The word 'intuition' was chosen as the Turkish literal equivalent of 'gut feelings'. There were also some challenges in finding the exact meanings of words and expressions in Turkish literature. However, we succeeded in finding adequate and responsible solutions. A Turkish version of the GFQ is available now. CONCLUSION:With these validated GFQs, Turkish GPs can facilitate studies of the role of 'gut feelings' in clinical reasoning. 10.1080/13814788.2023.2273846

Is It a Gut Feeling? Bodily Sensations Associated With the Experience of Valence and Arousal in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Frontiers in psychiatry Background:Previous studies have shown dysfunctional emotion processing in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), characterized by a hypersensitivity to negative emotions and a hyposensitivity to positive emotions. Models of emotion processing emphasize the importance of bodily sensations to the experience of emotions. Since there have been no studies on whether emotion-associated bodily sensations are changed in IBD, we investigated the experience of bodily sensations related to valence and arousal, together with their links to emotional awareness, as one domain of interoceptive sensibility relevant to emotion processing. Methods:Using a topographical self-report measure, 41 IBD patients in clinical remission and 44 healthy control (HC) participants were asked to indicate where and how intensely in their body they perceive changes when experiencing emotions of positive and negative valence, as well as relaxation and tension. Additionally, we used self-report questionnaires to assess emotional awareness as one domain of an individual's interoceptive sensibility, gastrointestinal-specific anxiety (GSA), and psychological distress. Results:Patients with IBD reported higher emotional awareness but lower intensities of perceived changes in their bodily sensations related to valence and arousal of emotional processing. IBD patients reported less intense bodily activation during positive emotions and less intense bodily deactivation during negative emotional states in comparison to HC participants. Higher emotional awareness and psychological distress were linked to stronger experiences of emotion-related bodily sensations in IBD patients. Conclusion:Inflammatory bowel diseases patients exhibited alterations in how they link bodily sensations to their emotional experience. Such persistent changes can affect a patient's wellbeing and are related to higher levels of anxiety and depression among IBD patients, even in remission. 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.833423