Risk propensity is how a person is willing to take a chance concerning possible loss. Persons who are “risk-averse” has a low-risk propensity; those who are “risk-takers” have a high-risk propensity. This concept has important implications in risk behavior, motives, choices, and behavior.
I had a life-related situation when my physician found a lump and thought it could have been cancer-related. I was faced with difficult treatment decisions and had to decide on the role of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and different surgical options. The decision-making process involved lots of factors and me, a single woman with no husband and children, I had to weigh up various risks, including the benefit and harm of each treatment option. For many patients diagnosed with cancer, this event would involve weighing up chances of survival against the risk of treatment affecting your quality of life. How doctors communicate the risk of treatment to patients and how such risks are interpreted has been the subject of many studies. The great blessing is, my procedure and results did not show cancer. However; I was willing to take risks on their treatment decisions which would have in turn created problems in my finance, recreational activities, health/safety, social, ethical, and career.
Lesson
As a patient and not knowing if you had cancer or not in a general risk propensity is the willingness to take risks on treatment decisions that receives little attention and becomes an unstable trait across situations with decision risk domains. The risk taking becomes a utility function depending on the actual risky situation and each individual perceive themselves in a domain of gain, and risk which can become a loss. When a doctor is helping the patient make a decision regarding treatment preferences, it is essential to ensure all patients receive the treatment that is right for them. In a clinical setting it is important that health-care providers understand the factors which influence patients’ in making a choice of treatments to help measure risk propensity for empirical research on patient treatments. These situations can be identified and reflect two approaches to measure risk propensity. The first approach is risk taking and risk behavior which will include finance and health. Even though these different theories and perspectives on risk have been generated, an individual’s risk propensity remains difficult to define and measure. The second risk propensity can be considered in a variable of personalities that would investigate personality traits such as sensation seeking and impulsivity. Regardless of the measurement approach, methodological issues pertaining to internal and external reliability, age-related biases, appropriateness, comprehension and generalizability are current limitations.
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